Loosing D
Gwenette chooses to be put in headstock instead of being lashed. In a letter to Mittie, Gwenette urges Mittie to use the Tisbee-Cohane Cross-Isle Courier Service to send her letters, because they do not usually check for banned letters. At the local punishment, two choose to be whipped, being part of sect believing that Nollop’s real wish is to use the letter’s more then usual.
Tassie dreams that she sees the letter ‘I’ fall from the sign, and wakes up screaming, drawing Nate and Mittie into her room. Nate convinces Mittie and Tassie that Nollop, once con man that scammed an island had by this point evolved into a god.
One of the four ‘O’s’ fall from the sign, and council goes into a closed session to discuss the situation.Within two days, the council declares that ‘O’ can be used until all of the other O’s fall from the sign.
Agnes admits to Mittie that she does not do anything anymore, for fear of being taken away from her family. The letter is intercepted by the High Council, who immediately banish her from the island for accidental use of the letter ‘D’.
Chapter analysis
The plot of Ella Minnow Pea begins to move at a quicker pace during this section. The exclusion of the letter ‘D’ has made speaking almost impossible, and many find that writing is almost as hard. Another reason for the importance of this section is the slow evolution of the High Council, and the memory of Nollop from an authoritarian government into a religious movement. Loss of the letter ‘D’ makes the word ‘God’ impossible to say, an aspect of symbolism that author Mark Dunn uses to show the downfall of religion as a spiritual act, and the rise of religion as a government mandate. This is also shown when a council representitives come for Rory, and admit that they are taking his land to turn it into a church for Nollop. The passage is important because it realizes the progression of someone who Nate describes as a ‘veritable con man’ becomes a god of the people.