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Isaiah Rucker

Professor Ditch

ENGL 115

Oct 28, 2017

The Radicalness of Dawsey Adams and the Conformity+Radicalness of Juliet Ashton (Old)

Dawsey Adams and Juliet Ashton are characters in The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel

Pie Society that both exhibit behaviors opposite of their genders. Although both characters

exhibit a sense of radicalness in their gender behaviors, Juliet exhibits more behaviors of

conformity, due to her more caring nature and concern for her appearance. In contrast, Dawsey

shows these same behaviors but because he is a male who is expected to act tough and

controlling, it is radical towards his gender identity. These behaviors of Dawsey and Juliet

however shall be touched upon later. Juliet Ashton is the main character of The Guernsey

Literary Potato Peel Pie Society and throughout the novel she meets various characters that bring

out either her feminine side or her masculine side like how she and Markham V. Reynolds, a

publisher, were dating at a certain time and Juliet always fretted about her appearance with

regards to how he would perceive her. Dawsey Adams is one of the first members of the Potato

Peel Pie Society who is particularly quiet and antisocial and also somewhat submissive who was

also put in charge of raising the societys founders daughter, Christina or Kit for short.

Dawseys antisocial behavior, he was the first one of the Potato Peel Society to come into contact

with Juliet and this sparked some dialogue between the two revealing that he can be open when
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he wishes to. Juliet and Dawseys behaviors show that ones gender doesnt necessarily define

how a person should act as their behaviors reveal that a person of either gender can switch on

and off from masculine to feminine qualities.

As mentioned before, Dawsey Adams is a quiet, antisocial, and somewhat submissive

individual that takes care of a child, but why does this make him radical or feminine in his case?

While one could argue that being quiet and antisocial is more of a masculine trait rather than a

feminine trait, being quiet is undoubtedly a behavior that males have forced upon women over

the course of history Let wives be subject to their husbands as to the Lord(Ephesians 5:22).

Throughout history, as evidenced by the previous examples, women have been subdued,

silenced, and forced to stay in the shadow of men. While men are expected to be somewhat

emotionless and quiet in the first place to exhibit strength and composure, Dawseys version of

quiet and composed is one of submission and awkwardness in social settings, both behaviors

bestowed upon women over the ages. Another behavior which combats the emotionless and

composed factor of men are Dawseys feelings of affection towards Kit. Although this comes

naturally with being a parent figure for a child, a father is supposed to exercise discipline and

toughness in a child regardless of gender, in Dawseys case he showers Kit with affection which

is usually a mothers job. Dawsey had hardly expressed any of the basic masculine archetype

behaviors Toys for boys encourage exploration, manipulation, invention, construction,

competition, and aggression (Composing Gender, 82), especially in his lack of competition

when Markham V. Reynolds walked up to him and Juliet in the middle of a conversation,

greeted, then kissed Juliet in which Dawsey then said his goodbyes and walked away shortly

after. However, thanks to his feminine behaviors it is much easier for the characters to trust him
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such as when Elizabeth entrusted Kit to him, this is the result of his rhetoric of compassion

which allows him to have a positive and upbeat effect on people People will like you if you are

sincere, endearing, or passionate.(Del Gandio, 44)

Where Dawseys radical behavior can be revealed from the Composing Gender quote on

pg. 82, so can Juliets as well as revealing how she conforms to her gender as well. There is

actually a continuation of the quote in which girls toys typically rate high on manipulability,

but also creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness, this reveals several things about Juliets

behavior that usually involve Kit, Markham, or Dawsey. In the case that involves Markham,

Juliet flexes her authoritative power over him by telling him to Get out of Guernsey after he

insults Kit but also showing her motherly side of wanting to protect Kit as if she were her own

child. The rhetoric of Juliets fingers gripping Kits porridge showed off her frustration at

Dawsey Your posture,, shoulders, hand gestures, fingers and the sway of your torso are all part

of the delivery(Del Gandio, 43) and the tone of her voice asserted that she was the one in

control at that moment, not the male in that situation, however this wasnt the only way she

exhibited her dominance over Markham. Prior to actually insulting Kit, Markham had followed

Juliet trying to get her back, which he also tried to do when she reached Guernsey leading to the

scene described. Markham had repeatedly impeded on Juliets personal space a behavior

common with most people who see a feminine individual as stated by Aaron Devor in his inquiry

Becoming Members of Society Other people tend also to stand closer to people they see as

feminine, often invading their personal space(Devor, 41), Juliet had cemented her dominance to

Markham by breaking the norm of femininity of letting something like this happen and actually

did something about Markham invading her personal space.

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Another situation in which Juliet exhibits both feminine and masculine qualities is on

page 209 of The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society when Juliet and Dawsey were

walking together she had thoughts of wanting to initiate romantic actions with him I began to

take particular note of his wrists and hands. I was wanting to touch them, and the thought made

me light headed.(Shaffer/Barrows, 209), in this statement Juliet does thinks romantic thoughts

about a male in her company which could be evidence for her femininity, however, this statement

mainly reveals her masculinity due to her wishing to take charge and initiate the action. This last

situation in which Juliet speaks to Sophie via letters, immediately after explaining the situation

previously mentioned she frets about her appearance despite it being 2:00 in the morning with

regards to how Markham would react if he were to see her. Her fretting over how she looks

according to how a man would perceive is a feminine behavior that relates back to the

Composing Gender piece of how girls toys reflect how a girl is supposed to act in regards to

their appearance. While behaviors can be one of the factors of femininity and masculinity, so can

occupations and other activities too and Juliet and Dawsey both have activities that reflect their

radicalness for Dawsey and both radicalness and conformity for Juliet.

Dawsey works as a pig farmer on Guernsey, which even having a job during the 1940s

would be considered a masculine trait as 86% of males made up Great Britains workforce in

contrast to the women who had 76% of women in the workforce, but this job is relatively

domestic so it could also be fit the category of feminine. Since Dawsey also took on the task of

raising Kit and factoring his affection towards her, he takes on a very feminine role throughout

the novel. In contrast, Juliet works as a journalist which again is a masculine thing to have a job

in general but after meeting Kit, Juliet begins to take on a motherly personality towards her.
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However, in reference to when Markham insulted Kit, it was Juliet and not Dawsey that had to

defend Kit. This action and also who initiated it makes Juliet both masculine and feminine in this

situation. Given all of this, I truly believe that this is overwhelming evidence that Juliet can both

be radical and is conforming in regards to her gender and that Dawsey is extremely radical

according to his own gender as well.

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Bibliography

Article; Women in the Labour Market: 2013. Office for National Statistics, 25 Sept. 2013,

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/arti

cle/womeninthelabourmarket/2013-09-25

Gandio, Jason Del. How Do We Become Boys and Girls? Rhetoric for Radicals: a Handbook

for 21st Century Activists, New Society Publishers, 2008, pp. 43-44.

Ephesians. The Holy Bible, P.J Kenedy &Sons, New York, 1961, p. 254

Devor, Aaron H. Chapter 3: Becoming Members of Society Learning the Social Meanings of

Gender. Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality, Indiana Univ. Press, 1990, p.42

Renzetti, Claire M., et al. Chapter 3 Women, Men, and Society, Pearson, 2014, pp. 74-75