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Keila V. Rosado
Professor Ditch
English 113B
2 April 2015
She Survives Because of Them
In the novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, the characters portray
the image of how awful the war has got, because of bombing and being put into concentration
camps, and how their lives were impacted even after the war was over. Throughout the novel the
author provides many letters of the characters talking about how each of them got through their
hardships. Friendship in the literary society became the main priority throughout the novel
because of the way Juliet was able to open up and find hope in people she had never met before,
through communication she was able to find friendships that brought many together. Although,
World War II has brought many tragedies and challenges to the members of the society they still
face after the war, the characters learn to cope with the help of others and friendship. The literary
society brings happiness and hope to the members of the Guernsey society that have lost and had
to go through difficult times on their own without anyone.
The literary society came together on the Island of Guernsey, where all the society
members lived such as Amelia, Elizabeth, Dawsey, and Kit. When the society first came together
the members were initially coming for the food and the shelter. After starting conversations and
starting to collect books and reading them they start to build a bond that not even the Germans
can break. Some friendships revealed early on are Amelias relationship with Elizabeth and her
daughter Kit. There are many members of the society, but the novel illustrates a few characters
lives through letters. Juliet is an author from London who writes articles that brings levity to

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many. She was surprised to read a letter from Dawsey Adams, a member of the Literary Society,
that had said they had received and read Juliets book and loved it so much they wanted to
contact her. Dawseys approach to Juliet was interesting because she notices something unique in
him within letters. Once Juliet went to Guernsey she became great friends with Dawsey and
realizes they have things in common such as they both like the author Charles Lamb. Throughout
the novel as Juliet secretly falls in love with Dawsey it drives her away from her partner she was
dating back in London, Mark V. Reynolds which was a good thing because she was going to
marry him without having anything in common with.
Before Juliets decision to come to Guernsey, she got to know most of the members in the
society. They all wrote to her hoping to get to know her before she came into their lives. It was
not a surprise that everyone loved Juliet even before she got to the island. Before leaving Juliet
has to tell her closes friends, Sophie Strachen and Sidney Stark, her publisher, why she is
leaving. Juliets friendship with Sophie is endless and will never die even though throughout the
novel Sophie never writes back. but I believe the true reason for Juliets regained spirits was
her friendship with Sophie Stark and the Stark family. (Shaffer, Barrows 46) The relationship
she shares with Sidney Stark is also what keeps Juliet very confident throughout the novel
because of the way Sidney motivates her to find what she wants to write about in her next novel.
Juliet believes the meaning of friendship is about not only trusting and believing in yourself, but
in others.
When Juliet comes to Guernsey she already knows of Kits situation, Kit is Elizabeth
McKennas daughter, because of the communication she had with the members of the society,
and becomes very close with her. Juliet does not realize how close Kit is getting to her and how

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well she feels connected in some ways. The members of the society also see the connection Kit is
making with Juliet and they thank her for being so caring and trustworthy because during the
time trusting anyone was a big issue. She makes Kit feel safe even though there are tragedies
occurring around her. Juliets friendship with Kit and Dawsey were an uprising to them, in which
gave both Dawsey and Kit a gateway from leaving the negativity in the past and bringing out the
positivity for their future. Even though Dawsey and Kit had some hard times they found their
friendship with Juliet helpful for them to find their peace and inner happiness.
In short, being in a society means to be in an organization or club formed for a particular
purpose or activity. The purpose for forming this Literary Society was to get a group of people
together and form a friendship that would make everyone forget about what is going on in their
daily lives even if it was just for an hour. The culture they brought to this literary society was
incredible because they made this book club into their own culture. Like mentioned in the article,
Culture and Communication by Anastacia Kurylo, A culture is a group of people that share a
way of life. Despite the war and killings going on everywhere, like in the concentration camps,
they find a way to come together and find a way of being friends and overcoming these tragedies
of losing family or friends. This quote is very relatable to friendship because of the way the
literary society takes over their lives and makes the club their way of life. Another idea Kurylo
suggest is, A cultural representation involves the use of symbols to reflect various aspects of a
shared group identity culture can be expressed through symbols. In the Literary culture their
books are the symbol in which represents unity and that bring the society members together to
read and form connections. These connections relate so much to friendship and the pathway in
getting them to become a family and overcoming those hardships they have been facing.

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Living through a traumatic experience can be very difficult for many people. When doing
specific studies on people who have had or was a victim of traumatic events they said having a
social support resource, meaning people, benefit the relationship with others. In the article I
discuss below is about the traumatic event in motor vehicle accidents, but in the book they are
losing a loved one. Now we know those are not the same things, but this article shows how
University specialist Crystal A. Gabert-Qullen, Leah A. Irish, Eve Sledjeski, William Fallon, and
Eileen Spoonster, and Douglas I. Delahanty, came up with a study to show that with social
support resources it prevents posttraumatic stress disorder. So to conclude friendship gives
strength to others in that time in need because without the social support people would just go
depressed. These types of traumatic situations happen to the whole Potato Peel Pie society
because they lost a member, Elizabeth, not only was she taken away, but she was never to return
again to the ones she loved the most.
Another tragedy that helps see how friendship is so important and shows how kind Elizabeth
really is, is when Elizabeth did not leave Janes side even though there was an evacuation in the
hospital building they were in. But, no matter, Elizabeth wouldnt go without Jane and the
baby. (Shaffer and Barrows 78) With a friendship so strong she was willing to risk her life for
her and thats why many loved Elizabeth and would do anything for her. There is a documentary
called Happy by Roko Belic, and there is a woman, named Melissa Moody who lost her beauty
and did not think she would ever get out of her depression. The womens son stood by her
through it all and that reminds me of how Elizabeth stood by Jane and her baby. In the
documentary the women had been hit by a car she was a beautiful healthy women and then she
got hit by the car and her face was completely damaged. There was almost no one there by her

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side because her husband left her and her kids were grown up except for her son who stayed with
her throughout it all. Unlike the novel the women did not pass away, but she did go through a
hardship in her life, but the friendship and bond she kept with her son is what kept her alive. This
brings me back to the book when Elizabeth met a woman in the concentration camps named
Remy Giraud. They became friends instantly and carried a great friendship unfortunately when
Elizabeth died Remy was not able to help her, but just to be strong for her and survive the camp.
Remy did survive and was able to eventually tell the story of Elizabeths days in the camp to
Elizabeths loved ones. Friendship can make a great amount of difference when going through a
tragedy and Remy was able to realize that because of Elizabeth.
Friendship does not take away all the pain within all the members lives because tragedies
still occurred even though they had their friendship. For instance, even though the group had
their friendship in keeping their hope alive that Elizabeth would come back; she did not come
back, which cause the group to feel devastated. Friendship is not how many people get by with
their struggles it could be by bravery or just being mentally strong. There cannot always be a
person to guide you through a tragedy that just occurred because some people learn to cope on
their own. As much as friendship is a key component to the novel this one example of this
tragedy of losing a loved one shows that you can not always count on others to be there when
you fall.
Throughout the novel there is an understanding on how and why friendship is the main
component. When Elizabeth stayed by her friends side even tough Elizabeth knew she was in
danger that was saying great things about her. When Juliet becomes great friends with Kit
McKenna and ends up knowing she wants to take care of her for the rest of her life that was very

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powerful and showed the friendship Juliet had for the members of the society. Juliet also showed
friendship can help overcome traumatic events because in London where Juliet is from she faced
different challenges which made her feel not at home. With the friendship of the members of the
society she decided to stay in Guernsey and spend her life their where she feels at home.
Unfortunaly, Kit will never be able to see her mother again, but that wont stop Kit from growing
up happy. Scientist research and determined in the article loss, trauma expose, and mental health
in a representation sample of 12 ^ ^17-year-old youth: data from the national survey of
adolescents by Alyssa A. Rheingold, Daniel W. Smith, Kenneth J. Ruggiero, Benjamin E.
Saunders, Deang. Kilpatrick, and Heidi S. Resnick that children who lose a parent at a young age
experience different illnesses throughout their childhood. It says that children tend to do poorly
in school, or get nightmares or even suffer from depression. Kit is very lucky she was able to
find Juliet when she did because now she will not have to suffer because she found someone else
to take her mothers place. Friendship does help overcome a trauma or help you cope with the
challenges of losing someone close to your heart. The novel is based of friendship and the way to
go through situations and have each other to guide them through their struggles.
To sum up friendship throughout the novel is extremely important because people are
helpful when it comes to comforting. The people of Guernsey will never be the same because of
the war and many people losing loved ones. Juliet brought so much joy and happiness to the
members of the Literary society because she was able to create a strong bond to a daughter who
lost her mother and met a man that blew her away with love. Friendship is the main component
of the novel because everyone from the society did not know each other until they formed their
group and became friends and even family.

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Works Cited
Belic, Roko dir. Happy. Wadi Rum Productions, 2011. Film.

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Belsher, Bradley E., et al. "Social Constraints, Posttraumatic Cognitions, and Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder In Treatment-Seeking Trauma Survivors: Evidence For A SocialCognitive Processing Model." Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and
Policy 4.4 (2012): 386-391. PsycINFO. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Kurylo. Anastacia. Culture and Communication 3-20. Print

Rheingold, Alyssa A., et al. "Loss, Trauma Exposure, And Mental Health In A Representative
Sample Of 12-17-Year-Old Youth: Data From The National Survey Of Adolescents."
Journal Of Loss And Trauma 9.1 (2004): 1-19. PsycINFO. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Shaffer. Mary Ann. And Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
New York. NY: Dial. 2008. Print