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Chase Schneider

Professor Ditch

English 115

30 October 2017

Project Text Essay

Within the novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann

Shaffer and Annie Barrows the main characters Dawsy Adams and Juliet Ashton evolve from

their prescribed gender roles. Dawsy Adams is seen changing his gender role from masculine

dominant to feminine dominant. Juliet Ashton is seen changing her gender role from feminine

dominant to masculine dominant. A prescribed gender role is defined as the culturally defined

behaviors deemed appropriate for a man or a woman (Bowie). When people step out of their

normal behavior and tend to act more like the other gender, that would be defined as the process

of switching gender roles. Gender is a performance just like anything that can be performed, it

changes at times.

Juliet Ashton is a charming and trustworthy author residing in London, England. Juliet is

the main character within the novel who is responsible for writing the article about the Guernsey

islanders. She is known for her self-reliant personality which can be seen throughout her

dedicated work ethic. In the beginning of the novel Juliet is known for her feminine gender

performance. For example I feel as though Ive emerged from a black tunnel and found myself

in the middle of a carnival (Shaffer 60). In this quote Juliet is talking about her life experiences

with Mark and how entertaining everything seems to be while she's with him. A deeper look at
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this quote though shows Juliet overcoming thoughts of depression showing that Juliet really had

feelings for Mark which is associated with what most of society would call feminine gender

stereotypes. Feminine gender stereotypes are known for cooperation or communion(Devor

39). Communion is defined as intimate fellowship or rapport. Juliet is staying within her

normal gender role performance showing that experiences with Mark are special to her which

relates to the feminine trait of communion. The other feminine stereotypical trait rapport is

defined as a friendly, harmonious relationship. Another example of Juliet sticking to her

normal gender performance is when she said I feel addled around Mark, which might be love

but might not. It certainly isnt restful (Shaffer 86). This quote shows that Juliet is experiencing

some feelings with Mark and she isnt really certain if its serious or not. Juliets love life is a

topic that she has been talking about often in her letters to friends like Sophie. Juliet gossiping

about her love life and experiences to her friends shows that she is sticking to her prescribed

gender role by the act of gossiping which is mostly associated with feminine gender stereotypes.

As Juliet starts to mature through out the novel, her gender performance begins to shift

from feminine dominant to now predominately masculine dominant. The shift can be seen once

you enter part two of the novel thats when Juliet really began to step out of her usual gender

performance. For example, Ive always considered doggedness one of my least appealing

characteristics, but it was valuable last week. The term dogged is defined as persistent in effort,

stubbornly tenacious. The trait of being doggedness is usually related to masculine dominant

stereotypical behavior but Juliet is seen to be praising the term and looking upon it as a good

quality to have. According to Composing Gender, Masculine speech patterns display a tendency

toward expansiveness similar to that found in masculine body postures (Devor 43). Juliet
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bringing up traits usually associated with masculine dominant behavior makes her come across

as more masculine like. Another example of Juliet exhibiting a more masculine dominant role is

when Juliet ended her relationship with Mark. Now I was so angry I couldn't talk. I stood there,

gripping Kits porridge bowl with white knuckles. I didnt know throw it at him, but I was close

to it. Finally, when I could speak again, I whispered, Get Out (Shaffer 213). Juliet could no

longer tolerate Mark and couldnt get over the fact that Mark didnt really care about Kit or

anything else that was going on, he was focused on convincing Juliet to marry him. The way that

Juliet presented herself showed that she wanted to be in control. She wanted to really show Mark

how she felt and I think Juliet going about and presenting it the way she did made that a lot

clearer to Mark as well. The thoughts that Juliet had about throwing Kits porridge at Mark during

their escalation were very masculine dominant in nature as well. Composing gender states that

Those who tend to speak more loudly, use less polite and more assertive forms, and tend to

interrupt the conversations of others more often also communicate masculinity to others (Devor

43). Using assertive forms such as telling someone to leave abruptly makes the person who's

telling them to leave appear more masculine like.

Dawsy Adams is a huge Charles Lamb fan as well as a ship yard worker who lives on the

island of Guernsey. Dawsy is known for being Juliets first contact on the island as well as a huge

help to her finding out more about the literary pie society. Dawsy in the beginning of the novel is

known for staying true to his masculine gender performance. For example, Im hauling slates

for the Crown Hotels new roof (Shaffer 37). Dawsy including the fact that he is working hard

hauling slates around on the hotels roof shows that he is a hard worker as well as a physically

strong person in general. Roof work is very labor intensive work and is predominately done by
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strong men which proves that Dawsy is true to his gender performance. I believe Dawsy put his

line of work in the letter as well to show off a bit and to let her know that hes a hard worker.

Another example of Dawsy showing his masculine performance is I have a slight limp from a

badly set leg, and though it kept me from army service, it has never been bad enough to bother

me (Shaffer 96). I have a feeling that deep down inside Dawsy really does feel pain from that

badly set leg of his. Dawsy claiming that his leg doesn't hurt him though is him masking the pain

or pretending like the pain is minuscule to appear more masculine like towards Juliet. You can

really start to see his attraction to her as well as the time between letters increases. Another

example of Dawsy sticking to his prescribed gender role is when Juliet is talking about Dawsy

calling her from inside a house. Dawsy has just come from the big house and is demanding my

immediate attention. His much-vaunted shyness has evaporated completely - I think it was a

ploy to arouse my sympathies (Shaffer 274). Juliet is even pointing out her husband and how he

is acting more masculine by being more outgoing. Dawsy demanding Juliets attention shows that

he is in charge or trying to be dominant by wanting her attention which makes Dawsy come

across as extremely masculine.

Throughout some of the novel, Dawsy didn't act according to his prescribed gender

performance and rather was stepping into more of a feminine gender performance in some cases.

For instance, when Dawsy says My mouth was dry as chalk and my mind was blank, so I just

held on to Booker and hoped (Shaffer 29). This experience that Dawsy wrote to Juliet about

shows that Dawsy couldn't cope with dealing with German soldiers very well. Dawsy showing

that weakness of his makes him come across more under a female gender performance looking in

the eyes of prescribed gender roles. Dawsy saying that his mind was blanking within that
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interaction with the German police shows that Dawsy is scared and often confused with what to

do in stressful situations. The story helped me to see a different side of Dawsy, the one Dawsy

wouldn't be willing to show many others but I believe he choses to show Juliet this because he

has feelings for her. Another example of Dawsy performing a female gender role is when he

mentions how deep his feelings are about missing Elizabeth in a letter to Juliet. Some days I

wear myself out with wishing for Elizabeth to come home (Shaffer 129) . Dawsy stressing

himself out over Elizabeth shows that he cares but to the point where he's wearing himself out

physically I believe makes it a feminine gender performance. A quote from Rhetoric for Radicals

states Woman, by contrast, is constructed as dependent, subordinate and secondary (Gandio

115). This quote from Rhetoric for Radicals shows the stereotypical connotations associated with

feminine gender performance. Dawsy stressing himself out and having feelings for Elizabeth

affect his everyday life makes him almost seem dependent on Elizabeth emotional wise

classifying his behavior as a female gender performance.

In conclusion, Dawsy Adams and Juliet Ashton transform their gender performances

throughout the novel. Both characters step out of their prescribed gender roles, Juliet acted more

masculine while Dawsy acted more feminine in his emotional state at times. At times, Juliet

seemed very physical and aggressive while Dawsy showed patterns of change going from very

tough and satisfied to meek and emotional. These changes in a characters performance show that

they transformed through out the novel personality wise. Seeing the main characters switch

gender performances while talking to others shows that they are comfortable with presenting that

side of themselves to others. Ive learned through out the novel that stepping outside of your

prescribed gender performance shouldn't be something to be worried about. At certain times,

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stepping outside of your prescribed gender performance can help you to relate to others better

and can even open your eyes to different perspectives to view life situations under.
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Works Cited

Bowie, Fiona. "Gender Roles." Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Lindsay Jones, 2nd ed., vol.
5, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, pp. 3420-3423. Gale Virtual Reference Library,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=miss82404&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%
7CCX3424501151&asid=cea058070 a522a4eac2c4975e537e81f. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.
Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists. New
Society Publishers, 2008.
Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Composing Gender: a Bedford spotlight reader. Bedford/St.
Martins, 2014.
"Masculinity Studies." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by William A.
Darity, Jr., 2nd ed., vol. 5, Macmillan Reference USA, 2008, pp. 5-11. Gale Virtual
Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=GVRL&sw=w&u=miss82404&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX3045301475&
asid=e0e0f2a172c874aa2e5ca0adae14d767. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.
Shaffer, Mary Ann, and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.