Majeed 1

Abdulrazzaq Majeed
Professor Ditch
English 113B
25 March 2015
Masculine Outlooks in a Female
In the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society the reader can witness a
lot of gender performance from the characters. Gender performance is acting out of the traditional
gender norms and being different. The setting of novel is World War II and the people viewed
things differently. If someone acted in an unusual way they would view him or her as a weird
person. So when a person does not conform to the socially constructed gender norms people view
them differently. Women are expected to do traditional things like cooking and taking care of the
house and on the other hand, men are expected to fight in wars. If a women or a man performs an
activity in a different way they are breaking the way that things used to be traditionally, like a
women always was told to have responsibilities of home making, and had to cook and things like
that. It was considered in the past that people would have to abide by certain traditions but people
like Juliet and Elizabeth who demonstrate gender performance, they are independent, spontaneous
and rash these are not things people would normally expect from a women at that time they take a
stand to change and be that change, they do not conform to the socially constructed gender norms.
Juliet the main character in the novel breaks the gender norms in the book many
times by not conforming to the traditional gender norms. In the article Some of the Most
Unforgettable Women in the World . . . Are Men": Re-presenting the Self through Gender
Performance the author states that, gender performance idea in understanding the process of

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constructing and representing the self. (1). In other words a person learns who they are by
performing different acts even outside of their traditional gender norms, this shapes their identity
Juliet is an independent women who likes to be responsible for her own values and she
demonstrates that in the book. One of her acts of boldness is when she proposes to Dawsey. That
breaks the norm because it is known that the man is the one that proposes for marriage traditionally.
The initial step of expressing the feelings of love and care come out from the masculine gender,
but her taking this step make it clear that she was extremely bold and not going to get easily
accustomed by gender related norms. Dawsey is another character in the book who portrays
Gender performance as a man it is known that one should be masculine, be physical and not show
emotions.as mentioned in Everything that rises must converge, Knowing who you are is good for
one generation only(275,O Connor) clearly states that a person needs encouragement in order to
stay focused and achieve the goals. Dawsey on the other hard is very sensitive and quit not like
Mark who was set to be Juliets husband but she rejected him because of Kit. Juliet doesnt want
to be like the other women who once they are married only serve the purpose of a housewife.
In the traditional gender norms women should never act like these characters, although this
is what makes these characters special. Performing different things that one would never expect a
person to perform makes them to shine their role in breaking down the barriers of gender
performance. These characters exhibit their own identity and do not conform to the norms and
thats what makes them different and significant in the book. In the book Rhetoric for Radicals,
the author Jason Del Gandio states an important fact about sexuality and how a person belonging
to a certain gender plays a role, Gender and sexuality are commonly grouped together for
historical reasons. For instance, second wave feminism and gay liberation both emerged during
the 1960s and 1970s. Feminism was soon addressing same-sex relations, particularly lesbianism,

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and the gay liberation movement was soon addressing gender equality, particularly male bias
toward women. These early beginnings helped set the stage for todays affiliation between gender
and sexuality. But gender and sexuality are commonly grouped together for another reason:
because our society linguistically divides people into dichotomous categories of biological sex,
gender and sexuality. (113). These are two different things sexuality is what a person is born with
and gender is what a person chooses to be, although as the author states people think they are the
same thing. Evidently they are different. It could be related in a way that a person thinks by actually
being able to address, whether he or she abides by the barriers that were set to in front of them
traditionally or take a stand and go against them creating a change.
The characters in the book, talk about how they were different from the normal abiding to
the norms women, like Juliet and Elizabeth they are both women who do not conform to the
traditional gender norms in the same ways. Juliet discovers that later in the book. Juliet and
Elizabeth are both women who are independent and are not scared to stay alone but are stronger
that way. On the other hand Dawsey and Marks are two different people. Marks is the perfect
image of a man who conforms to the traditional gender norms, he shows his masculinity he is rich,
handsome and smooth just what society would expect from the perfect man. That is one of the
reasons Juliet rejected his marriage proposal. Dawsey is the complete opposite of Marks as he his
quiet and peaceful not what society would expect a man to be like. During a time when certain
things were expected from men and women people like Juliet, Dawsey and Elizabeth who do not
conform to the socially constructed gender norms they think differently. This makes Juliet very
interesting and it makes her stand out as a character. Her fearless nature makes her special.
Elizabeth another one of the characters in the book who does not conform to the traditional gender
norm. Elizabeth is very well known by a lot of people in the book as she was a strong women who

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had her own opinion. Elizabeth helped people in need and was a key part of the story. She falls for
a German soldier and just that shows her courage at that time as the world was at war with
Germany.
If the characters in the book were to conform to the traditional norms of gender the sparkle
of the book would be gone. The way the characters are less afraid and decide to actually do things
that no one expected makes them unique and considerable. Although as characters in the eyes of
the people at that time they would be viewed as the rest of the conformist, regular people. It would
make them likeable by the people in the book. One of the things that make this book interesting is
the fact that these characters show gender performance and it is clear to the reader.
It is necessary for one to not just be sad about belonging to a certain kind of gender, but
instead should actually think of being treated equally. In the book Rhetoric for Radicals the author
Jason Del Gandio says that, our language contributes to this situation because our gender and
sexual identities are constructed through divisive and non-symmetrical language. Changing that
language would change the categories, and changing those categories would change our gender
and sexuality identities. (114). Language plays a huge part in how we as humans define gender
and sexuality as the same thing. In fact they are not the same thing but our language allows us to
understand the two words as one. If the language were to change the two words the people viewed
as one would be two words with two different meanings. Gender is what a person chooses to be
and sexuality is what a person is born with, genitals. In the article Performing and defying gender.
An exploration of the lived experiences of women higher education administrators in sub-Saharan
Africa the author Ane Turner Johnson, says Gender is in no way a stable identity or locus of
agency from which various acts proceed; rather, it is an identity tenuously constituted in time an
identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts. It explains the connection of literary works

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and at the same time how one should try facing challenges, whether it is education or improving
the skills that are used in making one communicate, all narrow down to one thing, that is regardless
of belonging to any gender, equality is what everyone wants. This quote explains what gender is
and points to the fact that gender and sexuality are two different words in definition. Although
changing a language is an extremely difficult task it is better for people to understand the meanings
of the words gender and sexuality and how they differ.
People like Juliet and Elizabeth who are non-conformists in the novel are viewed in a
different perspective as people who do not fit in. There are many people like that in this world who
are viewed that way because of their gender performance, but why does that have to be a bad thing
for the others who view them differently. People like Juliet are ones a person can rely on because
they are strong and have a very confident vibe around them to make a difference in them. Not
being pessimistic, but rather by being optimistic focusses down there areas of interest in one
direction. This not only helped in attaining higher confidence but at the same time helped in
hardships and to get out of it. It is the level of confidence that they have, which would allow them
to make a better person. Some people expect women to act as housewives and nothing more, but
some of the best people to ever walk this earth are women. Those women made drastic changes
and helped humanity advance further. So why is it that when a women steps out of the traditional
gender norm many people see that as an act of defiance. It is wrong! People get to be whom they
want to be and that what makes everyone different and special in their own way. Men are expected
to be masculine and not emotional invested, but men like Dawsey are caring and kind that does
not take their sexuality from them. They do not become feminine and their sexuality does not
changes, they are just more emotionally invested in these kinds of things that people view as
feminine behavior. Many people have to understand that it is none of their business how others act

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whether it was privately or publically, each person choose who he or she wants to be. Other people
do not have the right to judge anyone they are not familiar with, there is no right for anyone to be
judged, it is the way a person thinks and it is like his or her life, Do not judge a book by its cover
as the saying goes. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion but they do not have to judge a
person and worse publicize their opinion, people should learn to keep their opinions to their selves.
These characters are important to the story as they play a huge part in it. If their
characteristics are taken away from them the book would not be as good. Juliet, Elizabeth, Dawsey
are fictional characters but there are people in our world who perform gender whether it was for
the sake of a job or just because they like the way they are. Gender performance is an important
part of everyones life as it shapes their identity and makes them special. No one person can be the
exact same as the other everyone has something that separates them from the rest.

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Works Cited
Gandio, Jason. Rhetoric for Radicals a Handbook for 21st Century Activists. Vol. 2. Gabriola
Island, B.C.: New Society, 2008. 113. Print.
O Connor, Flannery. Everything that rises must converge. They Say I Say.
Gandio, Jason. Rhetoric for Radicals a Handbook for 21st Century Activists. Vol. 2.
Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society, 2008. 114. Print.
"Some of the most unforgettable women in the world . . . are men": Re-presenting the self
through gender performance. (1998).Women and Language, 21(1), 61.
Johnson, Ane Turner. "Performing and Defying Gender: An Exploration Of The Lived
Experiences Of Women Higher Education Administrators In Sub-Saharan
Africa." Educational Management Administration & Leadership 42.6 (2014):
835-850. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.