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Alexandro Silva
Professor Ditch
English 115
28 October 2017
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
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
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
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.
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
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.