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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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Works Cited
Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Composing Gender: a Bedford spotlight reader.
Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for radicals: a handbook for 21st century activists. New
Harp, Dustin, et al. More of the Same Old Story? Women, War, and News in Time
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.