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Taylor Maki

Professor Corri Ditch

English 115

30 October 2017

Juliet and Elizabeth: Radicals by Nature

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an epistolary novel written by

Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. The novels setting takes place in England in the mid

1940s after World War II, while the Germans still occupy the Island of Guernsey and its

inhabitants after their defeat. During this time woman began to volunteer a tremendous amount

to the many branches of the military. Also, the participation of women in the work force

increased nearly 10% during this time. The main protagonist of the story is Juliet, a published

writer and London resident, and the plot follows her life and experiences. The second character,

Elizabeth, is one of the islanders on Guernsey who plays an important role in the text. She is a

strong, outgoing woman who protects those who cannot protect themselves. Throughout the text,

both Juliet and Elizabeth, are radical in their gender performance by breaking the social norms

expected by females.

Juliet is the main character in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and

she plays a huge role in many of the other characters lives throughout the book. She is a strong a

dedicated woman who isnt afraid to take action or go for the things she wants. She is proactive

in her own life and is not willing to let anyone change her for who she is. She may not be a

leader but she takes charge of her life rather than allowing herself to be dictated by others. In

Rhetoric for Radicals, Gandio describe leadership as challenging society as well as putting

yourself out there for the world to see. (28) These actions are some of the traits that define
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leadership, and throughout the book Juliet exudes these actions simply because it is a part of her

personality. For example, regardless of being raised in a more traditional way and being sent to

boarding school, she doesnt have many behavior factors that can be considered feminine. Juliet

is more of an outgoing and outspoken woman. In this case Juliet is more masculine so she is not

acting to her prescribed gender performance. As said in the article Are we Facing a Genderless

Future? by Pat Wingert and Barbara Kantrowitz, you cant always detect gender by physical

evidence. (69) This means that just because Juliet is a female character by sex, does not mean

she will have a feminine gender performance nor conform to the social expectations of her sex.

Juliets actions throughout the novel show that she breaks free from her prescribed gender

performances and norms by her masculine actions.

In the Guernsey novel, Juliet was once engaged. However, the arrangement was short-

lived due to the drastic differences in their personalities and compatibility as a couple. Juliet

discovered this when her soon to be husband was packing up all of her books and replacing them

with his trophies and awards of physical fitness and sports. Needless to say, it did not work out

for them and she was once again, a single woman. This experience was a shock and a rude

awakening to her. That is why when she was questioned by a reporter who starts asking her very

personal questions on the affair, she was so emotionally charged. Relentlessly he bombards her

with questions and assumptions on her previously failed engagement, which clearly, is a very

touchy subject for her. After repeated attempts to get him off the topic and doing her best to

answer briefly and divert from the subject, she finally has enough and throws a hot tea pot at him

in a public venue, which at the time was being used as a meet and greet for her book release tour.

By her not allowing this reporter to make assumptions and accusations on the subject of her ex-

fianc, she acts with a very masculine performance with aggressive behavior to stop the reporter
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and to make him leave her alone. In the article Becoming Members of Society, it is said that

the feminine quest for harmony and well-being, can result in passivity and dependence. (39)

Therefore, women in Juliets time period were expected to be demure, kind hearted and

dependent of men. Her being angry and physically combative is out of this norm as she is a self-

sufficient, independent women in the late 1940s.

A second example of her acting out of her social gender norms is when she chose to

adopt Kit, Elizabeths daughter, and end her relationship with Mark Reynolds. This was later on

in the Guernsey novel. Elizabeth at this point and time had been killed and Kit was left officially

an orphan. When Juliet went to Guernsey to visit her friends she met through corresponding

letters, and upon arrival she learns of Kits situation and spends more and more time with her,

becoming more and more comfortable with becoming more emotionally attached to her. This is a

more feminine performance because it is more of an emotional attachment or bond being formed

between her and the little girl. While at guernsey, her then love interest Mark had decided to visit

her and bring her back from the Guernsey Island. Mark has considered kit to be no more than a

dirty orphan who was not worth either his or Juliets time. Ultimately, he dismissed her. Juliet,

being very fond of Kit, was so deeply offended that he would have no compassion for her that

she sent Mark away, at last ending her relationship with him. Juliet did not look back or regret

this decision. Juliet was not afraid to stand up to Mark not only because she started losing her

feelings for him, but also she begins to see his true personality. Not only does his disposition

change from charming and mysterious, Mark changed into a rude and demanding. She steps

again, out of her gender norm in order to stand up for the little girl who she is coming to love,

but also for herself as she sees how Mark will really treat her if they further their relationship.

Juliet is performing masculinity in the sense that she is defending and protecting Kit, but also
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challenging to take her on as her own and accepting the responsibility of a child. Even though

she was tentative at first when bonding with Kit, she ends up having her own family in the end,

in a very nontraditional way.

Elizabeth, another female character in the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,

was Kits mother. Elizabeth was an islander in Guernsey and was one of the correspondents to

Juliet in the novel. She had one child which was Kit, but by a German soldier. Even though the

Nazis occupied the area, her friends did not judge her but aided her when she needed it most.

Elizabeth is also a very strong woman who does not typically act in her gender norm. In fact, she

even does so even more than Juliet. Elizabeth is outspoken like her and is even bolder in her

actions thank Juliet is. The biggest performances in the whole book were done by Elizabeth

because of how powerful they were. The first instance where she takes charge is when she and

her friends were returning from the very first meeting of their new society and they were stopped

by the Nazi soldiers in the area. They were out walking home past curfew and that is what drew

the soldiers to them. When questioned about their late-night departure from home Elizabeth was

the only one who stood up to speak to the Nazis. Being out late could have warranted sever

punishment for the islanders but Elizabeth told them what they wanted to hear. She made up a

reality that would warrant their peaceful release to walk home without punishment. Elizabeth in

a sense used language that evoked her desired reality, a masculine and very authoritative trait.

(Gandio 106) If Elizabeth hadnt assumed a masculine performance and stood up to speak with

the Nazi soldiers they group would have suffered dire consequences.

Another time when she exuded bravery and performed very muscularly was when she hid

a polish slave in her home even though she knew the repercussions. When the Nazis came to

investigate her house, they discovered the polish slave, took them and took Elizabeth and she
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was sent to a concentration camp, leaving Kit behind alone. At the camp she was shipped to,

Elizabeth was malnourished, worked to the bone, and suffered brutal beatings daily in

punishment. Her final act of bravery and strength was when she stood up against a Nazis soldier

who was beating another woman in the camp simply because she was menstruating. Elizabeth

would not stand for this and once again she acted, striking the soldier. This final act of

aggression and defiance towards the soldiers resulted in her death. Elizabeths refusal to let

innocence be punished or harmed is an example of masculine a performance. Protecting the

weak and innocent is a masculine trait in behavior and has been considered masculine for

centuries. The knight in shining armor is usually depicted as a man coming to a woman in

needs rescue. In this case it was Elizabeth standing up for another woman. Feminine

performance is characterized by a sense of maternity, and affection as well as a more

subordinate attitude towards men. (Devor 40) If she had performed to her prescribed feminine

gender performance, she would have been able to return home to her daughter Kit as well as her

friends at the Guernsey Island. Her standing up against the Nazi movement and soldiers shows

she had no fear in what happened to her, as long as she was able to protect those who needed it,

she did.

Both Juliet and Elizabeth did immensely important things throughout the book that went

against their prescribed gender performance as well as the social norms at the time for women.

They both lived for themselves and for others, unwilling to let the social expectations of women

prevent them from doing what they felt was right and just. By them breaking their prescribed

gender performances, they were able to live out their true personalities and live as who they

were, not as who society expected them to be. Because of this, they both did great things that

broke out of their specific assigned gender performances.

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Works Cited

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

Society. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.

Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for Radicals: a Handbook for 21st Century Activists. New Society

Publishers, 2008.

Groner, Rachel, and John F. O'Hara. Composing Gender: a Bedford Spotlight Reader.

Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.

History.com Staff. American Women in World War II. History.com, A&E Television

Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/american-women-in-world-war-

ii.

History At a Glance: Women in World War II. The National WWII Museum | New Orleans,

www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-

starters/women-wwii.