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Brenden Reyes

Professor Ditch

English 115

6 November 2017

The Radicals of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

No matter the decade, there will always be people who do not conform to the prescribed

gender norms of that society. In the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, the concepts of gender are played upon, as two characters

act radically different than what was expected from their gender at that time. Taking place in the

Post-World War II era, the gender descriptions of what a man and a woman is remained

conservative. The man is expected to be an authoritative, leading figure while the woman is to be

the obedient, nurturing type. However, the two characters Juliet Ashton and Dawsey Adams

perform differently from their prescribed gender norms. Juliet would portray more masculine

characteristics while Dawsey would portray more feminine characteristics, thus, showing how

these two characters break the gender stereotypes.

An example of how Juliet would be more masculine is when she is angry with her

significant other at the time, Mark Reynolds. Mark was trying to convince Juliet to leave the

Guernsey Islands and leave with him so that they can be married. He expresses how he believes

that the people of the islands saddled her with their responsibilities. Although Juliet was upset

with what Mark said, she remained quiet until he brought up how she should leave Kit, a child

she has grown accustomed too and is taking care of, before she starts thinking Juliet would take

care of her. It was at that moment that Juliet went off at Mark and although they did not show the

argument, through context we can see how enraged she became, as she said, I was so angry I
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couldnt talk. I stood there gripping Kits porridge bowl with white knuckles. I didnt throw it at

him, but I was close to it (Shaffer and Barrows 213). What Juliet is portraying can be traced to

how Aaron Devor describes masculinity in his article Becoming Members of Society: The

Social Meanings of Gender as he interprets the aura of aggression, violence, and daring exudes

masculinity (Devor 42). Juliet demonstrates all three of these characteristics: aggression when

she frustratingly argues with Mark, violence when she almost threw the bowl at him, and daring

for even starting an argument in the first place. Her being able to show these masculine

characteristics break the stereotypes of how women act submissively towards men.

Another time Juliet is shown to be more masculine is when she asks Dawsey to marry

her. Throughout the book Juliet has been slowly falling in love with Dawsey, but she could never

really figure out if he felt the same way towards her since he was so quiet and shy. This constant

wondering was soon put to rest when Juliet learned that Dawsey kept personal keepsakes, which

were all of her letters wrapped in a blue ribbon she thought she lost, and several pictures of

herself and Kit (271). This made Juliet realize that Dawsey loved her and at that moment she

rushed to him and asked if she can marry him. Typically, the man is supposed to be the one who

asks the woman to marry him, but Juliet did not care for this norm. As Jason Del Gandio

describes in his book Rhetoric for Radicals, social norms often set limits for acceptable

behavior, action, and thought, (Del Gandio 20). This social norm of waiting for the man to ask

for marriage restrains true love from ever blooming. Not only does this norm limit Juliet from

ever admitting her love to Dawsey, but it also limits their love as well because Dawsey is inept at

showing such emotions due to his shyness.

The job that Juliet also has as an author also displays herself breaking gender norms.

During World War II, she wrote amusing war observations in a humor column for The London
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Times under the moniker Izzy Bickerstaff. That column gave Juliet the opportunity to share her

opinions on the ongoing war to the readers of the newspapers which can be considered rare for a

woman. As Dustin Harp states in his article More of the Same Old Story? Women, War, and

News in Time Magazine, Given that men dominate the public sphere regarding war, women

have long been absent from debates on war. This is dangerous because although women may not

dominate the front lines of war, they are still very much a part of war in different capacities.

What this proves is that despite the odds of her not being able to give her views in a male

dominated space, she still found a way to do so. Her insights on the war are to be taken

humorously, but the bigger picture of her writing these columns show that the women are very

much apart of this war as much as the men.

Now, from switching from Juliet to Dawsey, we can see how he acts different from his

prescribed gender norms by how he speaks to people. Specifically, to when he speaks to Remy

Giraud, a Holocaust survivor who knows about the fate of his close friend Elizabeth McKenna.

Dawsey wants to know more about what happened to Elizabeth while she was with Remy in the

concentration camp, but asking questions would be difficult since Remy was still fragile from the

experience. However, Dawsey was able to ease her into answering questions after he talked

about Elizabeths daughter Kit. This helped relax Remy and he is able to ask more questions

(188-189). How Dawsey acts can be backed by Devor once again, as he says that subordinate

speakers who use more polite expressions and ask more questions in conversations seem more

feminine, (41). How Dawsey speaks to Remy shows how much of a feminine speaker he is as it

displays his ability to be thoughtful and sympathetic. That consideration to how he speaks is very

important for him because it lets him get his point across that the questions he is asking is in

good intentions and talking about Kit shows that. If he was to act more masculine in the way he
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talked to her by speaking dominant and aggressively, then he may have not gotten the answers he

wanted from her.

Another example of Dawsey breaking social norms is that he acts nurturing towards

Remy. When he was strolling with Remy one time there came these big dogs that came towards

them. Remy suddenly began to feel extremely ill as those big dogs reminded her of the bad

memories she had in the concentration camp. Dawsey knew right away what was happening due

to her telling him of the experience before, and he quickly swooped in and helped her. According

to Del Gandio in Rhetoric for Radicals, Just as you read and respond to the audience and the

situation, you must read and respond to the surrounding context. This rhetorical awareness

allows you to use the most appropriate language, (105). With context, Dawsey was able to read

the situation right away and was able to aid Remy by taking on the feminine role of a carer and

helping her. This would not be expected for Dawsey to do as a male but he didnt give a second

thought when it came to helping her, thus, showing his more nurturing side when it comes to

helping people.

The expectations of a man is that he is to be strong, dominating, and aggressive, and

while Dawsey is a character who is physically strong, his personality is quite the opposite as he

is quiet and shy. These characteristics does not really bother his close friends at all, but in the

perspective of modern society it is considered unmanly. In the article Painfully Shy by

Romeo Vitelli, he discusses about the acceptance of being shy in society: There are also gender

differences with shy boys being more likely to have socioemotional difficulties than shy girls.

This is probably due to shyness being less socially acceptable for boys than for girls since boys

are expected to be more dominant and self-confident. To put it in another way, being a male

who is shy is inherently bad because it leads to more difficulties when it comes to social
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interactions. At face value this does look like an unfavorable characteristic to have, but in

Dawseys case it works out for him as it ends up becoming his charming feature. For example,

when Sidney Stark, Juliets boss and close friend, describes Dawsey, he says, He did not say

much at our first meetingnor at any of our meeting since, come to think of itbut let him walk

into a room, and everyone in it seems to breathe a little sigh of relief, (Shaffer and Barrows

194). Perhaps the reason why his friends enjoy him so much is because of how he does not act

how a typical man should act. Sidney states that Dawsey is quiet but how could someone who

has difficulties with social interactions affect people in that way? This goes to show how a

person does not need to act to prescribed gender norms to be accepted and liked.

In conclusion, the characters break the molds of what makes up their gender. Juliet comes

off more as masculine by being able to show her aggressiveness to dominating men like Mark

Reynolds, asking for Dawseys hand in marriage, and having a job typically held by men.

Dawsey shows more femininity by being able to convince people with his subordinate way of

speaking, showing his nurturing attitude, and being introverted and shy. By paying no attention

to these social norms these two characters were able to experience more than what their

prescribed genders would allow them to.


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Works Cited

Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Composing Gender: a Bedford spotlight reader.

Bedford/St. Martins, 2014.

Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for radicals: a handbook for 21st century activists. New

Society Publishers, 2008.

Harp, Dustin, et al. More of the Same Old Story? Women, War, and News in Time

Magazine. Tandfonline, 11 Nov. 2011,

www.tandfonline.com.libproxy.csun.edu/doi/full/10.1080/07491409.2011.619470?scroll

=top&needAccess=true.

Vitelli, Romeo. Painfully Shy. Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 23 Dec. 2013,

www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201312/painfully-shy.

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