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John Santana

Professor Ditch

English 115

6 November 2017

The Radical Relationship

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

Annie Barrows, takes place in 1946 and centers around the character Juliet Ashton a successful

journalist who finds out about the island of Guernsey and gets to know the people and history of

the island. One of the first people she meets is Dawsey Adams, a quiet and stoic man who cant

express his love for her. The performance of gender in life and even in fiction can be very one

note due to characters always conforming to their gender norm, but that isnt always the case.

Throughout the novel these two characters break free of their prescribed gender roles by Juliet

taking on a more dominant role and Dawsey having a more passive role.

Juliet breaks free from her gender roles due to her independent personality and ability to

take charge and dominate over other characters. Juliet was orphaned by the age of 12, she was

then raised by an uncle who neglected her, and spent most of her childhood in a boarding school.

Yet, she was able to go through all that and turn out still mentally strong and grew up into a

independent, and confident woman. By Juliet being a woman it one would assume that her

[f]emininity would result in warm and continued relationships with men, a sense of maternity,

interest in caring for children, and the capacity to work productively and continuously in female

occupations (Devor 40). While she does fall under a few of theses categories she also shows her

masculinity by not being submissive and following along with whatever people say. She also

doesnt have a problem telling people to their faces that she is mad at them. This is evident in the
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scene where Mark claimed that the people of Guernsey were pretty smart because they got Juliet

to take care of their responsibilities. He pitied her gullibleness. At this point in the scene she

begins to feel that shock and anger at Mark for not caring about the child that she is taking care

of. Mark continues by talking about how Kit is a cute kid, but she shouldnt be a burden on

Juliet, to kick her out before she gets an idea of being emotionally connected. Juliet finally hits

her boiling point and at this point she couldnt find the right words to show her anger. Finally,

she told him to get out. He was taken off guard and was confused. She continued by telling him

that she never wants to see him again. Mark is represented in the book as being the common

strong, dominant man but Juliet is still able to dominate over Mark because he insults Kit and

the people of Guernsey. She lashes out because she has a strong emotional connection to them.

Her maternal care for Kit is what drives her to dominate over Mark due to her masculine

characteristic of sticking up for herself and others. By her taking a dominant stance and

confronting him she is demonstrating a masculine action due to a patriarchy that has reversed

active expressions of power as a masculine attribute which is what makes her so radical

considering the feminine way would be expressed through modes of dress, movement, speech,

and action which communicate weakness.. (Devor 40). Instead she completely controls Mark in

this situation. She showed her strength and authoritativeness over Mark which greatly contrasts

with the female gender role. Juliet embodies the way that a female character can be a radical and

reject societys gender roles.

Dawseys character is also radical towards the gender norm of how men should act

throughout the novel. Dawsey is the character that first reaches out to Juliet and tells her about

The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society there in Guernsey. He also grows to have feelings

for Juliet yet struggles to actually confess his love to her.When Dawsey witnessed Juliet with
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Mark, she can see that he just stood there and stared at them both just waiting to see what would

happen. In this scene Dawsey could have been upfront about his contempt and jealousy for

Mark and to tell Juliet about his feelings. Instead, he just watches the two in silence then leaves,

which is more a characteristic of a feminine gender role. It has been accepted as a social norm

that people who communicate an air of authority or a readiness for aggression by standing erect

and moving forcefully People who attempt to control the direction of conversations seem more

masculine (Devor 43). Dawsey doesnt follow this typical example of what a man is supposed

to be like. This shows the fact that he does break away from the gender norm of being dominant

in controlling the conversation. Dawseys contrast to masculinity is highlighted by Marks

character who represents the Mark is outspoken and authoritative while Dawsey is quiet and

doesnt try to control other people. They both are two sides to the coin of man and how they can

act in accordance with other people. As Juliet came to get to know him more she came to realize

that Dawsey was very quiet and shy, that he didnt have really any friends. Unlike Mark who is

quite outspoken and dominates his surroundings and naturally gravitates people towards himself,

Dawsey is more reserved. And while showing no emotion is considered a masculine trait, shying

away from social settings and not being dominant is not. Another piece on Dawseys backstory

on how he used to be a pig farmer and how he wishes to hide that part of himself from everyone

else because he is worried may view him as being weak. By him having this insecurity that he

wants to keep secret can help those boys reading the book to understand that they dont have to

hide their true selves to be liked by society.

These type of characters give people a lesson on how they dont need to conform to

gender roles to be accepted and liked. Juliet is a female character who greatly goes against the

norm of what a women should act like in the sense the she isnt submissive. She even dominates
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over the strong male character of Mark. Dawsey is stoic and well composed man which shows a

conformity to him being a man but his performance can also come off as feminine due to him

being very quiet and not authoritative as the common man would be. All of this represents how

[t]here is no core or bedrock human nature below these endlessly looping processes of the

social production of sex and gender, self and other identity and psyche, each of which is a

complex cultural construction (Lorber 30). These type of characters matter because Good

stories are based on human identification That human identification shifts peoples perceptions

and understandings of the world. They now see the world through other peoples eyes (Del

Gandio 81). Juliets radicalism towards the female gender role can show girls reading the book

that they dont have to be submissive and just follow what society tells them. They too can be

strong, can be successful and dominate over others. Another good effect of these characters are

how it can relate to the reader, there are people in the story. It could be you.. It could be you and

other people Human beings are multidimensional and your characters should be too (Jason

Del Gandio 82). Dawsey is a multidimensional character by showing how he does in fact have

more layers with him due to the revelation of his past of him being a pig farmer and wanting to

hide that from everyone else which leads to him being viewed in the feminine way of being shy

and his love for Juliet and his struggle with expressing it. These characters can truly be role

models for those reading these types of stories. Stories where it radicalizes the way that people

should act. This is what progresses the idea of woman who can be masculine and men that can

be feminine.

People can see themselves in these characters and feel represented because it is a

different image than the one that society pushes on the impressionable youth. By having

characters like Juliet and Dawsey they can find themselves that rare character to connect to.
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Women have to face the stereotypes of people thinking that Women are supposed to have

"clean jobs" such as secretaries, teachers, and librarians...The best women are stay at home

moms (Brewer), is what leads to the unhealthy attachment to those norms that they find

themselves in. Men have to face the reality of not being allowed to show emotion, if a boy were

to cry then the parent may say Stop that crying right now. Only girls cry. Are you a little girl

now? Should I go buy you a little pink dress? Cut it out NOW! which is not a good reaction for

the child to experience due to the fact that gender stereotyping can be damaging to a childs

learning his or her sense of self and place in the world (Bosse). So with someone like Dawsey

who has many feminine qualities, he is able to break free and represents a side of men that

society would rather keep hidden away. Breaking free from the norms is natural. Juliet adapted

to her situations throughout life and became strong and outspoken which many girls may be able

to relate to. The same can be said for Dawsey who falls under those group of boys who are much

quieter, who are shy and dont have many friends. These characters become so much more by

not conforming to gender norms.

Juliet and Dawsey are not one note. They each have depth to their stories. Juliet who was

raised by a neglectful Uncle grew up to be a strong independent women who was outspoken

Dawsey who was raised as a pig farmer who grew up being a quiet, shy and passive man.

Throughout the arc of these characters they go through the unconventional love story due to

Juliet being the one who takes action instead of Dawsey. From the point of Juliet noticing that

Dawsey was jealous of Mark being with her and that he didnt do anything about it to the end of

it all where Juliet is the one who proposes to Dawsey. This is one of the biggest ways that these

characters break free from the gender norm and subvert to a new kind of relationship between a

man and women that isnt seen often in fiction.

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Works Cited

Bosse, Jennifer. How 'Man Up' And Other Stereotypical Sayings Hurt Boys. The Huffington

Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 June 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-man-up-and-other-stereotypical-sayings-

hurt-boys_us_594ac2b4e4b092ed90588b28.

Brewer, Holly. List of Gender Stereotypes. HealthGuidance.org,

www.healthguidance.org/entry/15910/1/List-of-Gender-Stereotypes.html.

Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender, 35-43

Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender, 35-43

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

Publishers, 2008.

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

Publishers, 2008.

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

Gender. HarperCollins Publishers, 2008