Characters
Ella Minnow Pea
Ella is determined to survive the difficulties that they High Council has placed on the people of Nollop. She is resilient and smart and survives without shear cockiness as she tells us in this passage “Am I not the cocky one! No, dear cousin, I don’t think that the tide is turning.” p. 68 Clearly she does not give up, she gives into nothing. In the novel she keeps in touch with her cousin and shares everything that is going on in her life. When she is the only one from her family left on the island she takes charge of Enterprise 32. While reading her father’s farewell letter she comes across the sentence that saves everyone on Nollop from the tyranny of the High Council.
Amos Minnow Pea
Amos is Ella’s father. He is a recovering alcoholic as Gwenette tells Mittie, “By the way, this is the sixth anniversary of Amos's recovery. Not so much as a beer in all these years in spite of the stressful circumstances...” p.82. Eventually he falls off the wagon, but surprisingly he is the one who discovers the pangram that saves the island even though he eventually has to leave the island like everyone else.
Mittie Purcy
Mittie, Ella’s aunt is an elementary school teacher. As a teacher she finds the Council’s laws nearly impossible to follow. During class she explains that 12 eggs is equal to a doZen and one of her students, Timmy Towgate, decides that she has committed a crime because Z is an illegal letter. She becomes depressed and decides to give up her job as she states “I cannot teach. Without that grammatical unifier, it is impossible. I plan to resign tomorrow.” p. 76 It is obvious that she has given up, she just can't teach with the chance that she may slip and use an illegal letter. After she makes her third mistake she decides to leave the island with her daughter and Nate Warren.
Tassie Purcy
Tassie has an ongoing correspondence with Ella who is her cousin and best friend. When describing Nate Warren she states, “He is single, as well – at least from what I have been able to learn...(he has ) no beautiful fiancee, thank heaven!” p.73. Clearly Tassie is in love with Nate Warren. She falls in love with Nate at first sight. Tassie also has a dream of another tile falling as she says to Ella “…I saw my self sitting beneath the cenotaph as another tile fell to the earth. The tile came to rest facing up. It was an ‘I.’” P.83 She seems to foreshadow a lot and see the future almost throughout the book. She may be the all seeing one, not that she is a god, but she sees what happens to the god. As she also makes certain that someone will surpass Nollop when she says “One of us shall, I am certain, achieve the goal of burying the myth of Nollop forever.” P.99 Eventually she is saved by Nate from the council’s punishment.
Nate Warren
“He is very attractive. He parts his hair right in the center, picking up on the style of the local boys. I can tell that he wishes to fit in not to arouse anyone's suspicion.” P.73. This is a good description of Nate through the eyes of Tassie who is attracted to him. He is more than just attractive, he is also a genius who reasoned with the Council to give them a new challenge and let him prove that Nollop is not the only one who can create such a sentence. He makes a deal with Redrick Lyttle that if someone were to find a sentence using all 26 letters in the alphabet using only 32 letters the Council would stop imposing the “illegal letter” rules. But it was less smarts that led him to make this deal, it was more risk but it was a risk he was willing to take. The council discovers who he really is and he is sent back to the states. In the end he falls for Tassie and comes back to save her.
Rederick Lyttle
Roderick Lyttle is on the High Council. Although he seems to be the most levelheaded person on the council he doesn't accept Nate Warren’s explanation for the tiles falling. But he also believes like all others on the High Council that Nollop is a godlike figure and that what he said went. In this passage he shows us that he does think Nollop may not be the only God. He shows that he would be willing to find another like Nollop. As he states, “Your point is a complex one Mr. Warren. What you’re saying is that if there exists such a person with such a gift, why we might have to place that special person right up there with Nollop. On the very same plane. Is that not the thrust of your argument?”p.95 Then he makes a deal with Mr. Warren allowing this reign of the Council to somehow come to an end if the challenge is met with success . But as the time goes on he decides to work on Enterprise 32 himself as he says to Ella in a letter, “Ewe see, I am worging on Enterprise 32 mie-selph.” P.182.
Dr. Mannheim
Dr. Mannheim is a professor from the local university. He works with Tom on Enterprise 32 trying to find a replacement sentence for Nollop’s pangram. Eventually he creates a sentence with 35 letters. But everything comes to a halt when he is shot and killed by island officials. Lyttle writes to Ella, “He yoos the letter, then when the poleese go to tie his hats to transport him to Pier 7, he ant Tom try to phlee so teportation will not happen.” P. 169
Georgeanne Towgate
Georgeanne Towgate is a resident of Nollop who believes in following the Council’s laws exactly. She expresses her views when saying “We (I) believe further that Nollop does indeed speak to us from his eternal rest... and that the Council serves only as his collective interpreter.” p.30 It is obvious that she thinks that Nollop is God-like and she thinks that the Council is his interpreter. When her son is affected by the rules her view of the Council quickly changes. She begs for help because her son is seven but some records showed that he is really eight so he is kicked off the island for using illegal letters. She becomes very lonely, and begins to go crazy. Eventually she decides to paint her entire body for fun. She gets lead poisoning from the paint and ultimately dies from the poisoning.
Nevin Nollop
Nevin Nollop created a pangram that contained all the letters in the alphabet using only 35 letters. A cenotaph of him stands in his honor on the island and the island is named after him. The pangram is on the cenotaph. But the tiles of the pangram have mysteriously started to fall off. The Council sees Nevin Nollop as a deity making a challenge to the people of Nollop to use words without the letters that have fallen off the cenotaph. The Council forces the people of Nollop to follow his will, as the Council states “Mr. Nollop speaks to us from beyond the grave, my fellow Nollopians. We will listen with open ears, discern his intent, and follow those wishes accordingly.” P.6. Eventually they think that Nollop isn’t the god they believed he was and may even by a fake.
Gwenette Minnow Pea
She is a very strong woman who supports her sister Mittie and her daughter Ella. She even uses an illegal letter when she writes to Mittie and shows the letter to the Council. She states to her sister that she “cannot allow you to be a member of any club to which I cannot belong.” P. 77 She taught Ella to be a fighter and stand up for what she believes in her. She loves her husband but is sad that he has started drinking again. She also shows her support of Tassie when she says “I can offer no advice but that you continue to be the kind and understanding daughter I know you are…” P.34