Ella Minnow Pea By Mark Dun

As shown in the novel Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dun, the restrictions on the language negatively affects the islanders. This is shown through Amos Minnow Pea, Mittie Purcy, and Georganne Towgate. First, Amos Minnow Pea is negatively affected by the language laws set by the council .As more letters begin to fall and Amos is caught with the decision to drink again, Gwenette states that,” Amos wasn’t silent. In fact, Amos, Thanks to chugging back four bottles of stout lager, was anything but silent. May I repeat an important part of this last statement? Four.Bottles. Yes, Amos has fallen off the wagon.” (89). Her statement shows that Amos has quickly fallen back into bad habits, and that he is not in complete control. This action even causes Amos to get his second offense and to even be later kicked off

This shows how much the stress and pressure from the language barrier is negatively impacting Amos. Next, Mrs. Purcy is also negatively impacted by the councils laws on the language.

She starts to show signs of worry when she expresses to Mittie in a letter that she feels like she can no longer teach anymore since the letters have been cut (76). It is also later shown that she feels like she can no longer write anymore due to the fact that she could mess up and accidentally use a forbidden letter.. It even causes a rift to form between her and Tassie. The council's restrictions obviously played a big negative part in Mrs. Purcy's personality. It was shown in the beginning of the book that she enjoyed her job as a teacher, so her decision to quit is an important role in the story .She feels like she can’t write or teach anymore because she is too afraid to use a forbidden letter and get in trouble. She grows distant with Tassie because of the sadness that hits her from these laws.