Cranz 1

Jared Cranz

English 115

Professor Ditch

22 October 2017

Gender Portrayed By Characters Within an Epistolary Novel

The concept of gender has remained relatively consistent throughout the course of human

history. This concept being that women are expected to act in a more submissive, Lady-like

manner and men being expected to act in a more dominant Manly demeanor. Despite these

expectations existing in society today, this is not how gender works. Ones performance of

gender is determined by the situations they are put in, communities they belong to and the

interactions with others. As depicted through the content of the characters letters to each other in

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows epistolary novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel

Pie Society, the characters performance of gender changes with their interactions with others

and with the situations they are put in, causing them to break free of their gender expectations

while at times, conforming to them. An example of a character who tends to be quite mixed on

how she performs gender is Juliet Ashton, a young woman who has shown she can rely on

herself, yet she changes a bit more over the course of the novel and as she interacts with others.

Another prime example would be Dawsey Adams, the pig farmer who begins as a timid

character and holds in his feelings towards Juliet until later in the novel. Though this is a novel

following many characters, these two clearly demonstrate a change in their gender performance

they had not realized, when they had begun to participate more in the novel. Even though they
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may not have noticed it themselves, the letters sent among the other characters shows that they

have taken note of their actions and how they have changed.

Throughout the novel Juliet Ashton, one of the more prominent characters, shows

patterns and trends of her conforming to her gender expectations while surprising the other

characters at times, when she breaks free from what is expected from her as a woman. An

example of an instance in which one of the characters is surprised by Juliets gender performance

is shown in Bella Tauntons letter to Mrs. Maugery; in which she is perplexed as to how Juliet

got her book published. This is shown when she writes, Though its biologically impossible, I

can only assume that some sort of nepotism was responsible for that books publication. This

shows the general idea during the time of this book that it is impossible for a woman to get

published. Due to it being impossible for a woman to get a book published, it must have been

due to a man behind the curtains, pulling some strings so that she would get published. This idea

of something being impossible for one sex but not the other, relates to Judith Lorbers article,

Night to His Day, in which she explains, In western society, man is A, woman is not-A

(29) the concept of A to not-A shows the overarching belief of the society within the story, the

idea that certain things cannot be done by women. Since this is described as biologically

impossible Juliets achievement without the help of a man is quite radical; so much so that it is

shocking to the others.

Also present in the letter sent between Mrs. Maurgery and Taunton, Juliets past

involvement with the fire wardens is touched on. They mention how Juliet had made a mistake

while she had served with the Fire Wardens; she had let her emotions take control when she saw

an inferno consume a massive number of books. Her emotional outburst would lead to her being

fired and she would join the AFS (Auxilary Fire Services). Her job in the AFS, was to care for
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the rescue team members after the bombing raids and serving them tea. Such a job is viewed as a

more feminine one, due to its purpose being caring for others; which has been seen as the natural

or typical job for women. Shown in the letter between the characters, Juliet had no problems with

her job in the AFS. She worked and did not screw up at all at her more feminine job, which

shows her conforming to her gender roles. Juliets past services can relate to Aaron Devors,

Becoming Members of Society, in which he explains that Persons who perform the activities

considered appropriate for another gender will be expected to perform them poorly (40) As

shown in the letters Juliet did, in fact, perform poorly in the AFS which could be viewed as more

masculine, yet she did not make any mistakes with her job that was viewed as more suitable to

her gender. While these occurrences in the story show Juliet conforming to her gender roles at

times while not forming in other times, she tends to do both simultaneously after a certain point

within the story.

While it is shown that Juliet tends to both break free from and conform to her gender

expectations, her varying performance of gender would show more through the story as she

would become more active in her romantic life. As she would become involved with the alpha

wolf himself, Markham Reynolds. When Reynolds takes a place in her life, she begins to

concern more about her appearance, which is shown through various letters between Juliet and

her close friend Sophie. Juliets concern can be tied to the book Rhetoric For Radicals, which

explains that, Your body is a message that others constantly read and respond to. (147) The

message that Juliet is trying to get across is that she is qualified to be with Markham Reynolds,

that she is good enough for him. This concern has been seen as more feminine since the society

does not look towards the man to see if they are qualified to be with the woman, it is in such a

way that a woman must present themselves and by doing this, Juliet is conforming to her gender
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expectations. Even though she had shown a feminine performance of gender with Reynolds,

when she becomes involved with Dawsey later in the novel, she would end up proposing to him,

a ritual that has been something a male does to a female. Juliets proposal is radical in such a

way that the action in its own defies gender expectations that have been set in place throughout

history. As shown, Juliet shows that she is a woman driven by her own emotions which leads her

to act in ways are conforming to or are radical to her gender expectations, yet there is another

character who demonstrates a similar gender performance: Dawsey Adams.

Near the beginning of the novel, the character Dawsey Adams is a more quiet and timid

character, yet he shows a growth in masculinity at times, over the course of the story. Due to the

loss of his parents when he was a child, he would be a quieter character who keeps to himself

often. The reason for his more timid personality can be explained by the quote from Rhetoric For

Radicals, when it is stated that As the child is cared for it begins to adopt the ways of society

and culture, This statement is relevant to Dawseys character due to his timid demeanor being

derived from his lack of parents. Rather than making his mark and establishing his name and

place in his society, he just wants to live his life. Although this would change as he would

become more active in his community with the forming of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel

Pie Society. Despite this community being viewed as a more feminine one due to its involvement

of communion amongst the members, Dawsey demonstrates that he is becoming more masculine

as he is trying to make his on mark amongst his new community. Despite Dawsey showing he

has grown to be more masculine, he is shown to have still held on to his more timid personality

when he discovers his own feelings towards Juliet but he is too afraid to confess them to her. In

modern society (though this belief is slowly fading), it is commonly thought that the male will

approach the woman when it comes to confession, yet Dawseys fear shows a radical
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performance of gender and that he does not fulfill his gender expectations. Dawseys character

shows the concept of masculinity is not true. As written by Elizabeth Weingarten in her article,

How to Shake Up Gender Norms, Its about getting as many people as possible to have

that Matrix moment, Barker said, when they realize, wait [masculinity] isnt real. Its all

illusory, its all performance. Dawseys actions highlight this illusion through his own

timid personality. Even so, Dawsey is but another character who has shown that they can and

will at times conform or break free of their gender expectations at times. In a 2010 TED Talk

Alice Dreger; an anatomist, historian and patient advocate stated that We now know that sex is

complicated enough that we have to admit nature doesnt draw the line for us between male

and female we actually draw that line on nature, This is shown to be true through the

characters Dawsey and Juliets interactions with others and each other. The importance of

this quote being that Dawsey and Juliet show two individuals who have broken down the

gender barrier and perform gender in ways relevant to each other.

In conclusion, the epistolary novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

shows how some individuals tend to perform gender in a way that at times lives up to their

prescribed gender expectations, and other times they do not live up to their expectations. In the

case of this novel, the two characters Juliet Ashton and Dawsey Adams show that they both

perform gender in the way previously described. Through the events that had occurred in the

novel, it can be concluded that the more feminine performances by the characters would tie to

the characters lack of confidence of themselves when they would become romantically involved.

While the more masculine actions would be shown through the characters acting in order to

establish themselves in the society that they live in. Despite this being only a novel, there are

certain elements that are relevant to todays modern society. Even today, the belief that a woman
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must present themselves in such a way that makes them feel like they are good enough to be with

said man, as well as the belief of men supposed to be the ones to propose to females. Despite the

gender barriers being slowly broken down as society is becoming more gender fluid, the

constructs and ideals held by society during the time in which the novel is set still exist. Despite

them still existing, one breaking these ideals today would not be as shocking as if one were to

break them in the time set in the book. I conclude that though these constructs set in early human

history will continue to exist, the performances of these characters show that it is not uncommon

for either gender to step out of line, therefore crossing the gender barrier will continue to surprise

people less as human beliefs continue to evolve from the traditional ones they had arose from.
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Work Cited

Dreger, Alice. Is Anatomy Destiny? Alice Dreger: Is Anatomy Destiny? | TED Talk,

www.ted.com/talks/alice_dreger_is_anatomy_destiny?language=en

Weingarten, Elizabeth. The Past, Present and Future of Gender Norms. Time, Time,

time.com/3672297/future-gender-norms/.

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

Publishers, 2008.

Lorber, Judith. Paradoxes of Gender. Yale University Press, 1994. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bhkntg.

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

Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.