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MarkAnthony Renteria
Professor Ditch
25 March, 2015

Gender Performance

Bravery is defined by how much spirit or courage a person has when it comes to
dangerous situation. In the book, The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary
Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, many of the female characters such as Elizabeth & Juliet adopt
the masculine performance in the gender roles and proceeded them to show bravery. It was odd
to see a women take the trait of being a masculine human instead of the gentlemen. In other
words its know that men are the dominated sex and the ones to have more power in traditional
gender role. Its also known that bravery and strength mostly come from men; and its
unexpected for women to act like men and for men to act like women. Women were identified as
housewives, where they would stay home to clean and keep the house organized as the men go
work hard labor to provide for their families. Women like Juliet & Elizabeth were characters that
endorsed the traditional norm of men being masculine and took it upon themselves. Gender
performance was such a big part of this book because the women were categorized to carry the
traditional norm of being a housewife. Other than Juliet & Elizabeth, there are also gender
performance when it comes to men as well. Men who dont usually embrace the masculine trait
are most likely to become a semi-female. For this, it would classify men do to what women are
supposed to do such as clean the house, cook, etc. This book confuses the reader by switching

the gender roles for us readers to view the gender performance in our eyes. As forth the
traditional gender role where men act like the men and the women act like the women.
The traditional gender performance role contains with men and women. The men are the
ones who contain the strength and bravery when it comes to a situation. Men are tend to protect
what is there weather its family or just protecting themselves. Men are considered to be the
dominant ones when it comes to a man and a women. On the other hand, women are tend to be
seen as weak and submissive. For this, women are the ones that need to be protected and the ones
that look weak to the worlds society. For an ,example, when it comes to a job men are the ones
with power and authority while the women work for the men and do what they are told. Now a
days, women have broken the traditional norm and now there are women who have power
instead of the usual men roles. In the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society by
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, female characters such as Juliet & Elizabeth brake the
traditional gender role because these women adapt the masculine trait when it comes to a
situation where they need show they are not the original weak women.
As a novel protagonist who had been an orphaned since the age of 12 and was taken in by
her uncle who nearly didnt pay as much attention to her as he should have, Juliet broke the
traditional norm of gender performance when it came to her to stand up for what she believed in.
Despite her immoral childhood she stayed strong to become the young women she was.
Attending boarding school as a young girl, which made her be on her own as a little girl and
learn how to be a semi-adult. For this it shows how she was developing the masculine trait at a
young age. Juliets bravery had originated to her when she was a child because even though she
was an alone child for some time, she still didnt give up on herself not knowing if she would
ever belong to a family.

A wealthy gentlemen named Markham V. Reynolds Jr. liked Juliet and wanted to marry
her but Juliet had expressed that she never wanted to marry him or anyone else. So I explained.
Feeling better by the minute, I told him that I would never marry him or anyone else who didnt
love Kit & Guernsey and Charles Lamb (Shaffer & Barrow, Pg.213). This quote shows and
explains how Juliet was able to stand up and explain to Markham that she wasnt interested in
him and that she doesnt need a man support. As forth, Juliet had fell in love with a man name
Dawsey Adams in which she had proposed to him for marriage. This termites the traditional
gender role norm because men are the ones that propose to the women but in this case Juliet had
took it upon herself to do this and show her masculine trait.
As a mother of a four-year old child Kit McKenna, Elizabeth was distant from the
Guernsey Island for the reason that she helped a Polish slave worker. On behalf of this action,
word eventually reaches the islanders and Elizabeth was then killed at the Concentration Camp.
Elizabeth had a connection with a lot of islanders, most often looked as a close friend. Elizabeth
was a kind soul where she would bring the fun out of every bad situation. Juliet heard stories
about Elizabeth from the islanders, in which where she learned how even though there were bad
times Elizabeth always had a warm heart. Elizabeth ensured bad decisions that were unsupported
by the people. Elizabeth was showed to be brave in her decision as a women. Elizabeth broke
out of our line fast-so fast. She grabbed the rod from Bintas hand and turned it upon her, hitting
her over & over. (Shaffer & Barrows, Pg. 181). This quote explains how Elizabeth wasnt
scared of the consequences of her actions caused her death. Elizabeth and her friends had there
societys first dinner together. So once they all left Amelias house it was past curfew so they had
to make it home without being caught by the six German soldiers. Their luck seem to be short
when Booker was to drunk, he yell out and that brought the attention to some German soldiers

around the area. Not just scared for there lives, they didnt know what to expect once they were
stopped by the soldiers. So once they were spotted by the soldiers, Elizabeth quickly stood up to
them so that they were able to go home. It was unusual to see a women stand up for her friends
because at that time women were seen to be nothing more than a housewife. She [Elizabeth]
acted like she didnt see any pistols at all. She walked up to the officer in charged and started
talking (Shaffer & Barrows, Pg.29). This quote explains that Elizabeth had stood up to a
German officer when they were stopped when Booker yelled out loud late at night. It was
unusual when a women would stood up to a German officer in regards to their awful situation
they were in towards to WWII. In this situation the author gives us an image where it
demonstrates Elizabeth the dominant women because she was the one that had walked up to the
soldiers to be able to go home safely with herself and her friends.

Works Cited
Shaffer, Mary Ann., and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
New York, NY. Print
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue.
Paper copy.