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Joseph Negrete

Professor Corri Ditch

English 115

30 October 2017

Gender Radicals

The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society was created during the German

occupation of the island of Guernsey during World War II. Two of the founding members,

Elizabeth McKenna, and Dawsey Adams, they both display a performance that you wouldnt

have expect people of their gender to perform. Elizabeth is strong and brave, she fought back

anyway she could, she isnt afraid of the consequences because she believed what she is doing

is right. Dawsey is an introvert, he didnt have many friends before the society, he keeps to

himself and didnt talk much, he is too shy to talk about his feelings, and he cares for everyone.

Elizabeth displays a more masculine tone then feminine, if she was more feminine then

masculine she would be more obedient, she would fall in line, and listen to the Germans.

Dawsey is more feminine then masculine, if he was more masculine he would be an extrovert,

he would have been more outgoing, and more focused on himself then others. Throughout the

book, Elizabeth and Dawsey are in their gender performance.

Elizabeth has many masculine performances throughout the book, for example, during

the German occupation, food become scarce, they were given rations and nothing more,

everything else was for the Germans. One night Amelia Maugery decided to have a dinner party

and the main course was a contraband pig roast. The Germans set a curfew time for all the

island natives, and when the party guests were all done, they left after curfew hours, this leads
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up to them being discovered by the Germans. In the book Rhetoric for Radicals, by Jason Del

Gandio, he writes, good speakers go a step further and seem to speak effortlessly. Theyre

comfortable, in control, and their bodies appear natural as if they have done this a million

times. Elizabeth did this with her delivery and performance towards the Nazis, she told the

Nazis they just finished a book club meeting and that they were sorry for being out past curfew.

She convinces them so well that the Guernsey Literary society book club actually existed and

that they didnt notice how late it was, the Germans only let them get away with a warning,

though they would keep a close eye on them afterwards. You wouldnt have expected Elizabeth

to act in this masculine manner when she spoke to them, she was confident and brave, most

people in this situation would have been too afraid to speak, the Nazis would have taken

everyone away, where they would have been thrown in jail or worse. Elizabeths quick thinking

and bravery single handedly created the society.

Though everyone knew Elizabeth in some ways, not everyone agreed with her decisions.

Since the island is occupied by the Germans, there was a festering hatred from the natives

towards them, if you were so much as seen nodding at soldier you were immediately thought

of as a traitor. So, when the people of island found out that Elizabeth fell in love with a German

soldier, they were appalled by her decision, even more so when she had a child with him. A

woman named Adelaide Addison, who is of higher class then Elizabeth, warned, she would be

cast out of decent society. If she didnt clean up her act. The way Elizabeth handled this

situation was very masculine, Elizabeth didnt comply with Addison she didnt care what she

said, she stood her ground and laughed in her face and demanded Ms. Addison to leave her

house. Elizabeth does what her heart tells her is right and acts on it, she does not fear the
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consequences because she knows shes doing the right thing. Elizabeth is a kind person, and

when she saw the polish slave, she needed to help him, she did more than just throw a lump of

bread towards him, Elizabeth wasnt the only one on the island who wanted to help the slaves,

but instead of letting fear rule her and allow the slave to be tormented, she freed and hid him

until she was caught and sent to the mainland, Ravensbrck concentration camp in France. In

Judith Lorbers article, Night to His Day, she writes, in social interaction throughout their lives,

individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways,(28).

A notable example was when a friend of hers named Alina stole a potato while they were

digging trenches to store potatoes for the winter, she dropped it and all digging stopped until

they find the thief. Elizabeth knew that if they find Alina, they were going to kill her, and did

what no one expected would happen, she immediately said she was the thief and was thrown

into a prison bunker. The text portrays Elizabeth because she has always done what wasnt

expected of her, you wouldnt have thought anyone was willing to take the blame, in an already

horrible situation, to save a friend, and that was incredibly brave. Elizabeth was incredibly

tenacious, she didnt cower or give up when they threw her inside a small bunker, and turned

on high pressure water hoses on her and the other prisoners, she was knocked to the floor, but

she was strong she survived the night by lying under her blanket, until the cold went away, the

women in the next cell died that night. Elizabeth broke free from her prescribed gender norm

by not being subordinate, she was always fighting for and against something, when she saw the

overseer beating on a young woman for menstruating, she acted, fear did not control her, she

broke out of her line and took the rod from the overseers hands and started to beat her with it.
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Elizabeth was later beaten down and was taken back to the punishment bunker, the next

morning she was taken from her cell into a grove, where they shot her in the back of the head.

Elizabeth McKenna acted in a more masculine way, whereas Dawsey Adams behaved in

a more feminine manner and displayed less dominate features then Elizabeth, she was always

straight forward and spoke her mind, Dawsey kept to himself. In the article by Emily Kane, on

page Kane states that a desire to encourage domestic competence, nurturance, emotional

openness, empathy, and nonviolence as attributes they considered nontraditional but positive

for boys (91). This corresponds with Dawseys character because he is always supporting

people making sure they are all right, helping when and where ever he can, he has become

someone everyone can depend on, and even became one of the guardians for Elizabeths child

Kit. For example, when he sent a letter to Juliet Ashton asking for any book shops in London he

can order from, he wasnt being demanding of Juliet, he was asking her sincerely, and was

asking about more books of his favorite author Charles Lamb. In Jason del Gandio book, on

page 48, Gandio says that, Speech anxiety is also a psychological issue. It is based on your

perception of the situation. Self-doubt, fear of failure and the weight of the moment make you

more nervous. This relates to Dawsey having a speech impediment, a stuttering issue, he was

more of a shy character, he lacked a lot of social interactions as a child, and as an adult, having

to tend to a farm mostly by himself since his father died when he was 11, his mother grew

paranoid after his father death, she became too afraid to leave the house until her death

shortly after the war. Dawsey was mostly alone until he joined the guernsey literary and potato

peel pie society where he learned to open up, talk to people and make friends. Dawsey was one

of many guardians for Elizabeths daughter, kit, although it was strange for a man to take care
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of a child, even more so when she isnt his, because the normal construct for a father is to be at

work, providing food for the family, and a place over their heads, Dawsey performs differently,

he hasnt shown signs to be aggressive or demanding of Kit, he is there for her when she needs

him, he always making sure shes safe and happy.

Dawseys caretaking abilities goes beyond Kit when he convinces Remy Giraud, a friend

of Elizabeths during her time in the concentration camp in France, she told them how Elizabeth

died. Dawsey broke free from his gender norm by been feeling Empathetic towards Remy, he

doesnt really know how she feels but he cares for her, he doesnt try to find the silver lining in

her story, but he does try to make sure she feels safe and cared for. Dawsey isnt telling Remy

to get over it, or that all of its over now, he isnt trying to make it seem like there was

something in what happened to her, for after all Remy is physically and mentally scarred after

her time in the concentration camp, Dawsey is Gentle with her. Though everyone thought

Dawsey to have fallen in love with Remy because of his actions towards her, he really has Fallen

in love with Juliet, but because she already has a suitor, Mark Reynolds, and he is very shy, he

doesnt say anything. This is strange for a man because of whats expected of Dawsey is for him

to tell Juliet how he feels and ask her to marry him, but instead hes very shy, doesnt say

anything to Juliet about it, hes kept it to himself holding memento, and trinkets of Juliet. Even

after she has declined Reynolds proposal, Dawsey hasnt said anything towards her and became

more distant. Juliet only found out by her Friend, Sidney Stark, who snuck into his house and

found things of hers when he was looking for clues for Remy. When she heard that he loved her

she ran towards him, and asked him if he would like to marry her. This is strange because,

typically in our culture the men are the ones who propose to the woman, they get down on one
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knee and bring out the ring and ask the important question, Dawsey fell off a later with

excitement and said yes to Juliet.

Dawsey has trouble telling people how he feels so he keeps it to himself, while Elizabeth

on the other hand is more open and upfront with what she believes. These two characters have

shown some qualities that is strange in our society. Masculinity and femininity arent tied to

one gender, people have shown to be radical in their performance, such as Elizabeth McKenna

and Dawsey Adams. They didnt conform to what was normal, they acted in ways they wanted

to for better or worse. The idea of gender norm is constricting, it doesnt allow people to act

like themselves, it tells us that we should be built into one of these molds that society has built

for us, when we shouldnt be afraid to be who we are.