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Camille B Knight

Professor Corri Ditch

English 115

6 November 2017

Radicals from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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

Shaffer and Annie Barrows, there are many characters that perform opposite to their

prescribed gender roles. Characters, Juliet and Dawsey, two of the main characters in the

novel, are both radical in their gender performances. Gender and sex are very different

especially when it comes to acting and displaying yourself to society. Gender is a

performance demonstrated by males and females in certain situations and spaces in daily

life, while your sex is a biological category determined by anatomy at birth. A radical

character is a character that does thing that are unusual and out of the normal behavior for

their socially accepted gender. Juliet and Dawsey display radical behavior in their letters

to their friends and through their interactions with others in their lives.

Juliet is radical in her gender performance by being an independent woman in her

era, was well as being strongly opinionated with a well respected career. The in 1940s,

women in England were important to society's survival because most men were away at

war but were still playing undermined roles and were again oppressed again after the war.

Females were very important to the war but didnt actually participate in the war efforts

besides being nurses. Back home, women were taking over mediocre jobs like shop

workers and shoe sellers, while still being expected to go home and do their womanly

duties like cook, clean and be home makers. With thousands of men away serving in
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the armed forces, British women took on a variety of jobs during the Second World War.

They also played a vital role on the home front, running households and fighting a daily

battle of rationing, recycling, reusing, and cultivating food in allotments and gardens

says the British ministry of defense. Juliets career is an important factor to her radical

behavior because Juliet breaks a normal pattern that the society around her has become

accustomed to with women. Every norm begins with a pattern. The pattern gets repeated

so often that it becomes second nature to us; its as if the pattern was always there, (Del

Gandio 20). These sentences from Rhetoric for Radicals give reason to why Juliets

behavior was looked at so unusual. Juliet lives a life quite different from most women

during her time and is looked at quite odd because she is out of the social norms because

of it. In Judith Lorbers article, Night to His Day, she makes the statement that gender

as a modern social institution is to construct women as a group to be the subordinates of

men as a group (Lorber 31). In Juliets case, this statement is an example to why her

behavior and lifestyle is considered so odd because it was considered so incredible

masculine. Being independent and living a masculine life made Juliet equal to the men

around her, making her equal to men instead of subordinate to them.

As well as being radical in her career and lifestyles, Juliet is radical in her

relationships. Juliet has many relationships in her everyday life. Juliet displays radical

behavior when interacting with Sydney, her friend and publisher, by treating him with

sarcasm and attitude besides his important place in her career. Juliet speaks to Sydney in

a way that could almost be misrepresented as rude and disrespectful, but is not due to the

friendly and respected relationship the two share. For example, while talking to Sydney

about how long it is taking him to have a healthy leg again, Juliet states I swear youve
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had time to grow a new one. Her tone is sarcastic and almost rude towards Sydney,

which is unusual for women in her time because it could be viewed as improper and out

of her place. In Rhetoric For Radicals, Del Gandio exclaims, Be aware of your overall

attitude and orientation to the audience. Your confidence, poise, composure, emotional

state, personality, liveliness, spontaneity, engagement, and overall vibe are part of the

speaking experience, (44). This quote helps explain how Juliets tone and attitude

toward Sydney and her other relationships is so radical to her gender. Juliet is radical in

her other relationships as well. In Juliets relationship with Mark, her current suitor, Mark

asks Juliet to marry him and she doesnt deny nor agree, but she asks for some time to

think about it. I didnt refuse you know. I said I wanted to think about it. You were so

busy ranting about Sydney and Guernsey that perhaps you didnt notice- I only said I

wanted time. This quote is an example of Juliet being radical in her relationships

because it was unusual for women in her era to not jump at the opportunity to marry

wealthy and handsome men. In Aaron Devors article,Becoming Members of Society,

the Social Meanings of Gender, Devor writes, Femininity, according to this traditional

formulation, would result in warm and continued relationships with men, a sense of

maternity interested in caring for children, and the capacity to work productively and

continuously in female occupations (Devor 40). Juliet continues her defiant and radical

behavior when she sends a gram to Sydney expressing her feels about Mark to him,

Blessing received. Mark reynolds is not in a position to forbid or allow. Love, Juliet.

Juliet expresses how she doesnt feel Mark has any right or place to tell if she can go to

Guernsey to visit her new friends or not. Juliet continues with her radical behavior in her

relationship with Dawsey. Juliet breaks gender norms by asking Dawsey to marry her and
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being very forward with him. Would you like to marry me? I am in love with you so I

thought Id ask, (272). Juliet is extremely radical by asking this question because the

question is so masculine and abnormal to the everyday female. In practice, only about 5

percent of those currently married say the woman proposed, and the figure is no higher

among couples wed within the past 10 years. Attitudes actually seem to be trending the

other way, an Associated Press-WE tv poll shows.

Young adults are more likely than their elders to consider it "unacceptable" for a woman

to do the asking. More than one-third of those under age 30 disapprove, says CBS news

on the subject. A women proposing to her boyfriend is one of the most masculine

positions she could take because making a marriage proposal is considered the mans

duty in the relationship and is rarely done by a girl.

Dawsey is radical in his gender performance by being a very parental figure to

Kit, behaving shyly and reserved, as well as being conscious to the feelings of the people

around him, while minding his manners. For example, Dawsey felt it would be rude to

ask Juliet about herself when Isola asks Dawsey about the subject. Isola writes to Juliet

asking her all kinds of questions about herself, including the fact that Dawsey wanted to

ask her but felt it would be rude. I want to ask you some questions- they are highly

personal. Dawsey said it would not be polite, but I say thats a difference twixt men and

women, (116). This sentence confirms Dawseys concern with being polite, which is

something men are not commonly associated with. As well as always being considerate,

Dawsey openly displays feminine behavior when he takes in Kit, a young child, raises her

in his home and later plays a very maternal role in her life. Kit was staying with me for a

bit. She is sitting beneath the table Im writing upon, whispering. Whats that youre
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whispering, I asked and there was a long quiet the she commenced whispering again, and

I can make out my own name mixed into the other sounds, (128). In Dawseys letter to

Juliet, you can tell Dawsey feels responsible for Kit despite not being genetically related

to her and wants to bring her comfort as well as a stable environment. Men in this era and

even today, are not usually expected to take care of the children in the home, where that's

all of the mothers job. Dawsey has taken on this responsibility fully and with great care.

As well as being a very parental figure to Kit, Dawsey displays radical behavior by being

proposed to. When Juliet asks Dawsey to marry him, he doesnt oppose or is unhappy

that she so masculinely asks him, but instead hes shocked and excited and replys almost

instantly, My God, yes. In this situation, the roles of the two genders are switched

completely, making Juliet very masculine and Dawsey quite feminine. Society views

women asking men to marry them very negatively. The act emasculates men, making

society see them as less manly and able, making the woman appear to be the head of the

household instead of the man. In society, when men are emasculated, they are often

viewed differently in many ways. One of the main ways society views masculinity is

through sexuality. Kane states, the other theme evident among some parents negative

responses to perceived gender nonconformity on the part of their sons: fear that a son

either would be or would be perceived as gay, (95). This quote explains why it is so

frowned upon for women to propose and emasculate men.

In conclusion, A radical character is a character that does thing that are unusual

and out of the normal behavior for their socially accepted gender. In this novel Juliet and

Dawsey are both very radical characters in their gender performances by displaying

unusual behavior in their letters to their friends that are both opposite to their prescribed
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gender normalities and continuing this behavior all throughout the novel. But despite

their unusual behavior, each characters nonconforming behavior compliment the others,

making them an unusual and radical couple.

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Works Cited

The Women of the Second War. Gov.Uk, 16 April 2015,

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-women-of-the-second-world-war

Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender. Composing

Gender, Leara Burton, 2014.

Why dont women propose to men. CBSnews, 5 May, 2015.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-dont-women-propose-to-men/

Del Gandio, Jason. Rhetoric For Radicals. New Society Publishers. 2008.

Barrows, Annie and Shaffer, Mary Ann. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie

Society. Dial Press Trade paperbacks. 2009.

Devor, Arron. Becoming members of society: the social meanings of gender.

Composing Gender, Leara Burton, 2014.