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Shadi Khoury
Professor Ditch
English 113B
2 April 2015
Beacon of Happiness and Escape
Through difficult times and unfortunate conditions, literature unifies a culture to begin an
unusual and daring change in hopes of happiness and escape. In the book, The Guernsey Literary
and Potato Peel Pie Society (GLPPPS), written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, the
story takes place during World War II, with a group of people being oppressed and their land
occupied in a quite remote location in the English Channel. While their problems are neglected
and resources are low, certain citizens gathered to learn of peace and happiness to begin a change
through the participation in books and literature. The individuals in the book demonstrate a
connection to one another, as the establishment of the book club creates relationships and grows
the culture of Guernsey. The book club members live in hopes of pain, allowing their passion for
literature to provide a method of escape from the Nazi rule. Under oppression of the Nazi
occupation, literature has provided for certain citizens on Guernsey island a source of happiness
and sense of peace, as this constructs relationships and provides escape to get through the
hardships of the occupation and strict rule.
The citizens under strict oppression find happiness, and later peace through the literature
shared among one another. The island of Guernsey is under occupation by Germans, causing the
members to be held under strict laws and curfew. Also, they are not allowed to speak freely or do
things at their own will. However, the struggling citizens discovered the book club one night
when an islander was feasting on a pig and invited other islanders to join. Having strict rules

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against them, the Nazi soldiers caught the group and were questioned. One islander named
Elizabeth McKenna bravely created a lie of how it was the first night of their book club
gathering. Thus, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society began. What came of the club
was that the people found happiness and peace from discovery of books and sharing of literature
during the occupation. Similar to the argument made by Ruth Cigman in her academic article,
Happiness Rich and Poor: Lessons From Philosophy and Literature which was published in the
Journal of Philosophy of Education. Cigman claims that happiness is a large idea, which must be
considered as literary examples in order to open up new ways of imagining relationships in
education. Cigman writes, We attend communally, conversationally, and often argumentatively
to the dramas of human life. This, I argue, is how we grapple with large ideas and bring about
ethical learning (Cigman). Happiness is found at a larger scope. She claims that in order to
achieve happiness one must search for the complex emotion through all the hardships in life. In
the end happiness will be found where we started, in learning. Learning from our books,
experiences, arguments, and literature. But to further define happiness, many testimonies where
recorded in the Netflix documentary called Happy, directed by Roko Belic. The video Happy
contains real life examples of people who are in unfortunate situations, and have suffered from
traumatic experiences, or who are not wealthy; to be the happiest they have ever been in their
struggling lives. For instance, Ronaldo Fadul a father in Brazil has been surfing for over 40
years; he finds happiness in surfing as he claims it is his religion. Fadul states, At an age when
most people think that youre falling already, I feel that I am still rising with every wave that I
catch. I feel Happy (Fadul). Ronaldo found his happiness as he escaped his work life, he was
sick of just making money and being preoccupied with life, but was never happy. That is until he
settled down and focused on surfing. Lastly, what happens when a plethora of people within the

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same community feel oppressed is simply, starting change; this was achieved by making a secret
book club, and sharing ideas within the culture and out.
Furthermore, literature has brought the citizens together in order to construct relationships. A
relationship, as defined by Oxford Dictionaries, is the way in which two or more concepts,
objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected. As revealed in the book, bonds
are created when people experience trauma together or can relate to similar events. For example,
Guernsey cultural space included the island always being under rule. The people never were selfruled and were located in a remote location. This quote was found as Juliet was searching
through an old library in London for facts about Guernseys history. Juliet reads, The Channel
Islands freely owe their allegiance and love to the English Crown, but head this, deer readerTHE CROWN CANNOT MAKE THEM DO ANYTHING THEY DO NOT WANT TO DO!
(Shaffer/Barrows 112). Guernseys history lies with always being under control. At the time of
this quote William, the Duke of Normandy, conquered the island, etc. This is relevant because
the citizens have always shared this bond in common. This provides a foundation for a strong
relationship. In conclusion, literature connects people sharing the same hardships in order to
establish relationships and make life more bearable.
Another effect of literature entails, the people discovering its power on the island as a source
of escape from the harsh and injustice events are occurring. Sharing ideas helps with
withstanding occupation. These ideas mainly come from forms of learning and literature. The
societys members found this escape with each meeting, idea shared, and each joining together to
strengthen the power of the GLPPPS. Other examples of escape through literature include
Marina Nemats story in her memoir, Prisoner of Tehran (2007). In her article, The Secondhand
Bookseller, she details her struggles through the Iranian Revolution, she writes One day, I

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gathered all my courage and asked my mother if she would buy me books, and she said she could
buy me only one book a month(Nemat 1). Nemat shows a desire for knowledge as a young
girl, this is unusual but quite motivating and inspiring. This is important for Nemat shows her
desire for knowledge, which came mostly from the oppressed and the unfortunate as she was.
She wasnt granted a proper education or a simple lesson to gain knowledge due to the
oppressors. The girl suffered from harsh oppression from the Iranians during the 1979
revolution, however she found escape from it all in the books her mother struggled to provide for
her. Also, a more modern example was found as the children discovered peace in education
through the bilingual learning of Arabic and Hebrew in the midst of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Sara Zamirs academic article, Peace Education Through Bilingual Children's Literature Written
in Arabic and in Hebrew: Different Narratives, Different Socialization, aims to teach children
about peace and keep them sane through the conflict. Zamir writes, Most Arabic-Hebrew
texts try to convey to young readers merely the ideas of coexistence and harmony rather than the
notion of peace education in regions of intense conflicts alongside agonizing and painful costs
(Zamir 1). Whether peace is taught directly or behind the curtains, education and literature
provides even the most controversial of people to discover harmony. With that, the young
individuals caught in the political and religious mess have an escape from the situation that has
taken its toll on many. Literature can help people under oppression escape the harsh times as
they find it in literature.
While it is true that literature can bring the best in an unfortunate situation, it does not allow
complete escape because the oppression is still apparent. In fact, having participation in such a
function like the book club could be risky. The club met after curfew, and anyone who was
caught sneaking out would face the consequences of the Nazi soldiers. Therefore, literature only

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helps some of the people of Guernsey get by the occupation, yet those individuals cannot forget
that they are still oppressed. For instance, a letter was written on April 8th, 1946 from Mrs. Clara
Saussey to Juliet. She is describing her difficult experience in the literary society and how she
still felt oppressed by the occupation as she is sharing her culinary literature. Clara writes, I
believe they was made so bored, with what the curfew and other nasty Nazi laws, they only
wanted an excuse to get out of an evening, and reading is what they chose. I want the truth of
them I told in your story. Theyd never have touched a book, but for that OCCUPATION. I stand
by what I say (Shaffer/Barrows 104). The society was a place to escape repression, however
she still felt oppressed because other citizens suffered consequences and couldnt escape.
Literature can make one feel comfortable and provide a peace of mind, but for a minimal time
because the situation stays the same. The occupation is still occurring and still supplies such an
inconvenience. Lastly, happiness and peace in literature can provide an escape for some of the
civilians- however, it does not allow complete getaway because the event is still present.
Ultimately, certain citizens of Guernsey uncover happiness & peace through the struggle of
the German occupation with literature. The people connect to one another and build relationships
as they try to escape the strict oppression of the German Nazis during World War II. In the book,
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, the struggles and escape take place during
the German occupation of an English Channel island named Guernsey as the people live with
their land occupied. Through difficult times and unfortunate conditions, literature gathers a
culture to begin a movement out of the ordinary in hopes of happiness and escape. While
demonstrated in the book, effects of literature include peace & happiness, escape from tough
times, and connections of people for relationships- throughout the toughest of times during the
German Nazi Occupation.

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Work Cited

Cigman, Ruth. "Happiness Rich and Poor: Lessons from Philosophy and
Literature." Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48.2 (2014): 308-322. Zamir, Sara.
Happy. Dir. Roko Belic. Perf. Marci Shimoff and Gregory Berns. Netflix.com.
Netflix, 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Nemat, Marina. "The Secondhand Bookseller." Priosner of Tehran (2007): 571-74.
Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Oxford University Press. "Definition of Relationship in English:." Relationship:
Definition of Relationship in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). Oxford
Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
"Peace Education Through Bilingual Children's Literature Written in
Arabic and in Hebrew: Different Narratives, Different Socialization." Journal
of Peace Education, 9.3 (2012): 265-275.
Shaffer, Mary Ann., and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel
Pie Society. New York, NY: Dial, 2008. Print.