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Alexandro Silva

Professor Ditch

English 115

28 October 2017

Gender Fluidity in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

The novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is about a book club

founded on the island of Guernsey while under occupation by the Nazis. Two members of this

club, Juliet Ashton and Dawsey Adams, cross the lines of gender constantly and challenge social

norms while not sticking to their socially assigned gender throughout the story. Gender and

gender performance are socially constructed and because of this people who act outside of their

assigned gender are seen as radicals. The main way in which our gender performance is judged is

through whether we do or do not conform to social norms. Social norms are patterns in our

interactions that eventually become seen as rule. Jason Del Gandio states in A Call to Rhetorical

Action that the pattern becomes a taken for granted social assumption. We assume that we

and others should and must follow this pattern. (21) Going back to the novel, the way in which

Juliet and Dawsey are written shows us that they are people who do not conform to social norms.

Women in societys eyes are often seen as maternal figures who cook and clean all day.

They cant work or play sports because they are too delicate and weak; women who do not

conform to these standards are seen as threats to men and many men will attempt to harass them

because theyre so different. Juliet who is a masculine female character and she is written to

constantly challenge societal norms. In Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of

Gender Aaron Devor describes masculinity by stating Persons who display success..., who
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exhibit a manly air of toughness, confidence, and self-reliance and the aura of aggression,

violence, and daring (42) this quote relates to Juliet because she has most of these traits. An

example of Juliet experiencing some of these traits is the incident in the bookstore Juliet could

see that this man thought that he could devalue Juliets work mostly Juliets penname because

she had taken inspiration from a fellow male author. However, Juliet being the written the way

she is fights back and displays her confidence and her aura of aggression that Devor was

mentioning before. In the article Gender Equality and Violent Behavior: How Neighborhood

Gender Equality Influences the Gender Gap in Violence the authors argue that masculinity

is a product of gender inequality and is associated with male toughness and aggression. (91) An

example of this is, when Juliet throws the tea pot at the head of Rob Dartry after he tried to

bother and offset Juliet with facts from her past. Juliet responding in such an aggressive manner

shows that she is finding this sense of masculinity in a situation of gender inequality. The article

Rethinking Womens Biology emphasizes that People ask whether there are natural limits to

womens strength and therefor natural differences in strength between women and men.

(Hubbard 49) This quote shows us that there is already this feeling ingrained in peoples minds

that females are weaker than men by nature. Therefore, when Juliet slaps Billie Bee when Billie

was trying to escape Guernsey we can see that Juliet is acting radical in her gender performance

and challenging this idea of strength within women. These three instances from the novel show

us that Juliet is written in a way that challenges societal norms.

Juliet while often acts radical, there are also times in which she conforms to her socially

assigned gender. An instance in which this occurs is when Juliet starts to apologize about her

behavior immediately after the tea pot instance occurs. Sidney later responds that the apology

was not needed because her behavior was completely justified. Being apologetic about your
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actions is seen as weak and therefore that is seen as feminine behavior. So, when Juliet acts in

that manner it is obvious that she is conforming it gender stereotypes. Going back to the Devor

article Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender when he defines

masculinity he states, Persons who display success and high status in their social group, who

exhibit a manly air of toughness, confidence and self-reliance and the aura of aggression,

violence, and daring (42) Mark Reynolds as a character has constantly been flaunting his

success to Juliet by sending her flower arrangements constantly and by doing this he is falling in

line with the quote form Devors article. Then when Juliet decides to go to dinner with Mark he

continues to flaunt his high social status and this display of masculine gender performance

surprises Juliet. As a result, we can see that Juliet is clearly conforming to his masculine

behavior because it has had such a strong presence in the night. This instance gives more

credibility to Devors quote and proves that Juliet does not only act radically but also conforms

to her gender in various instances.

Men on the other hand are expected to be hyper aggressive and loud people and men who

do not conform to this idea are ridiculed and ostracized from society or just flat out ignored.

Dawsey is a resident of the island of Guernsey who tends to act more feminine rather than

masculine and no one tends to think anything about it. Dawsey is described by his neighbor

Amelia Maugery as shy and lonesome. In the article, The Power of Language it is stated that

Cracks and crevices are thus created, allowing for alternative ideas, insghts, thoughts and

actions. (Del Gandio 108) This quote tells us that behavior that will be seen as radical is

sometimes allowed to slip through the cracks and if it is deemed passable. So, when Dawsey is

acting shy that behavior while being radical to his gender performance is seen as socially

acceptable to his neighbors because they know thats just the way Dawsey is. Dawseys neighbor
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Mrs. Maugery even says, He was so busy convincing me to write to you by the next post he

forgot to be shy. (Shaffer and Barrows 37) Toward the end of the novel we see that Juliet asks

Dawsey to marry her and Dawsey says yes. However, the fact that Dawsey did not propose to

Juliet is seen as radical behavior. In societys eyes men are supposed to propose because it shows

that they are in control of the relationship and that the woman is submissive to their will. When

the tables are turned and the man is proposed to the man may feel that his manhood is being

tarnished or that he is just less of a man. Not having control of a situation or not wearing the

pants in a relationship is seen as not man like. So, because of this Dawsey is acting radical in

terms of his socially assigned gender.

Dawsey however isnt always radical he also tends to conform to his socially assigned

gender. In Talk Like a Man: Speech, Power, and Masculinity in Early New England James

Kamensky defines masculinity stating, Becoming a man means learning to be, according to the

lights of ones culture, not-woman and not-boy. (24) Dawsey fulfils this when he takes a

temporary job at the quarry. Working at the quarry has long been seen as a mans job due to the

heavy lifting required as well as working on the farm because that job is also physically draining.

Dawseys jobs are examples of Dawsey conforming to his gender because while he is shy and

that is seen as feminine his work is the polar opposite and it is masculine. This falls in line with

the quote from Kamensky of learning to benot-women and not-boy. Another instance of

conformity on the behalf of Dawsey is when he allows Kit to stay with him. In this instance,

Dawsey shows that he is willing to step up in the absence of Kits parents; showing that he is

able to take control of his situation even if he does tend to act more feminine at times. Having

control of your situation, whether that be financially or emotionally is something that is seen as

masculine gender performance. Dawsey could also be doing this to show Juliet that he could be a
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good father and that couldve been a reason as to why he decided to take in Kit. We know that

Dawsey has had feelings for Juliet but he hasnt had the courage to tell her and Juliet around this

time was also dating Mark. Dawsey as a result takes in Kit to flaunt that he is a family man

without having to tell Juliet how he feels. Dawsey as a character is unique because he is written

to be radical in terms of his personality and how he tends to act; however, he isnt radical in

terms of his career and that is why I believe that Dawsey is one of the better written characters in

the novel.

To conclude, Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer do a fantastic job at writing these

two characters to convey gender through text and through their actions that occur outside of the

text. Juliet having this hidden aggressive personality that she can turn on at will is a very

masculine thing to have and yet we still are able to see her as this delicate author from England.

Juliet constantly crosses the lines of gender and does so almost perfectly. I believe that it is

because she is the protagonist of the novel she is given these characteristic that challenge the

beliefs of society at the time and she is radical in her gender performance as a result. Dawsey on

the other hand is a shy and lonesome pig farmer from the island of Guernsey, he tends to be a

very feminine man. He keeps to himself and only goes out of his way to ask for help when it is

for someone else. However, Dawsey taking a masculine job shows that he can conform to the

rough and tough image of a man that society has set. Both of these characters constantly cross

the lines of gender and dont tend to stick with only one socially assigned gender.
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Works Cited

Kamensky, Jane. Talk Like a Man: Speech, Power, and Masculinity in Early New England.

Gender &Amp; History, vol. 8, no. 1, 1996, pp. 24.

Man-Kit Lei, et al. Gender Equality and Violent Behavior: How Neighborhood Gender Equality

Influences the Gender Gap in Violence. Violence and Victims, vol. 29, no. 1, 2014, pp.

91.

Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Womens Biology. Composing Gender. Eds. Racheal Groner and

John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2014, pp. 49.

Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender. Composing

Gender. Eds. Racheal Groner and John F. OHara. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2014.

42.

Del Gandio, Jason. A Call to Rhetoric Action. Rhetoric for Radicals: a Handbook for 21st

Century Activists. Gabriola Island, BC, New Society Publishers, 2008. 21.

Del Gandio, Jason. The Power of Language. Rhetoric for Radicals: a Handbook for 21st

Century Activists. Gabriola Island, BC, New Society Publishers, 2008. 108.

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