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Ma Joanna B Dinio
Professor Ditch
English 113B
2 April 2015
Hope Comes From Unfortunate Events

Though World War II has occupied the islanders on Guernsey, each members of the
society has offered gentle acts of kindness to each and everyone by simply making the resources
they need and what they have left to share with their community. The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie
Society provided a sense of community to its members and was treated as their home during
their time of oppression. This sense of community quickly evolved into a sense of family in
which provided solace in their time of need.
The book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and
Annie Barrows, focuses on the story of the citizens of Guernsey Island during the World War II
while being occupied by the Germans. The book revolves around a variety of characters with
different social status and occupation, yet these characters are all facing the same situation of
being exposed to the trauma within their occupation by the Germans during the war. This
situation calls attention to the external and internal values of each member of the society. The
character of Juliet Ashton is a writer in London with her framework focused upon making a
mockery of the war through her article, Izzy Bickerstaff goes to war and soon was approached
Dawsey Adams, a pig farmer in Guernsey. These two characters come from different social class

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and way of living, yet they are exposed and dealing with the same problem caused by the war.
For example, running out of resources such as water, food, clothes, etc., losing their homes,
shelter and family members, and having to deal with social class and status. This illustrates the
idea of the social class and why it doesnt matter. In this era, citizens from London or Guernsey
were forced to deal with the war the same way with no special treatments given. For example,
even Juliet, as a writer, still was not assured of what she had to live for the next day, how long
shell have her house, clothes, food, etc. The same way the islanders on Guernsey were going
through but even worst.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society consist of many members with
different occupation yet they act as one community. For example, Dawsey Adams is a kindhearted pig farmer whom recreated, crafted and imitated resources to share with his community,
Elizabeth who was courageous enough to stand up to the German soldiers at the time of curfew,
Juliet for taking the role of being Kits mother and Sidney for being generous and sending stuff
to Juliet and Kit Mckenna. Each members help in minor ways which shapes the society as a
whole.
In the documentary, Happy directed by Roko Belic, connects to the purpose of the
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in terms of harboring happiness within yourself in
your own ways. For example in Gurnsey, people were able to surpass the trauma by creating a
sense of community in their own way which they sheltered as their own of creating a family and
escape from the situations they had to deal with. The book club was their sanctuary and their safe
haven and reading books allowed them to fantasize of a better place. In comparison to the
documentary, which carried the same message of finding happiness within. The story that

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intrigued me was about a lady named Melissa Moody in Texas who got ran over by a truck
which turned her life upside down. The opening scene started with her son mentioning how
beautiful his mother used to look like before the accident then Melissa claims that she had to go
through 30 surgeries just to maintain all her senses. Going more in depth, Melissa also realized
that her life was not completely ruined because of her familys support and if it wasnt for the
accident then she wouldn't have met the love of her life which then she got to marry.
The story of Melissa Moody relates to the situations of Guernsey because just like
Melissa went through oppression caused by the accident, the same way the islanders went
through war, they both found comfort by having support from their families. Another story that
relates to the Guernsey book club is the article, The Secondhand Bookseller by Marina Nemat.
The article is about a young girl which was financially unstable living with her mother and who
loved to read books, Nemat says, In a way, book had saved us both. Nemat mentions how
books make her feel like in a different realm when she is reading. One day she spotted a book
store which sold books for a cheaper value since they were second-handed. She picks up a book
and the owner believed she wouldnt have understood a word in the book, but to a surprise, when
Nemat returns to purchase the second book, the seller felt intrigues by the little girl who was so
into books than expected. Nemat was so dedicated to reading books that she did things like
selling her pencil box just to get enough money to purchase her next read. In a way this connects
to Guernsey book club because each member found comfort in reading books and were able to
find an escape from reality. Books were what connected each member into the club, it was
something they all had in common.

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In a way of which Nemat bought her secondhand books to make her happy, in the article,
The Financial Costs of Sadness by Jennifer S. Lerner, the article talks about the experiment of
the literal cost of being happy. The article tested random participants and paid them based on
their performance of testing their mentality when it comes to being emotionally stable and
spending money, These experiments, combining methods from psychology and economics,
revealed that the sadder the person is no necessarily the wiser person when it comes to financial
choices. From a teenagers perspective, this quote is true because I have spent more money on
shopping whenever I was sad and thought it served as my therapy.
Another article that I found which connects to the book is Finding Happiness for
Ourselves and Our Clients by Geri Miller. The article is about guidance counselors helping
others surpass mental illness and emotional instability. ...examined the contributing factors of
happinessmoney, relationships and religion. This article studies where people find happiness
and how they find it during their time of oppression. In the book, the Guernsey islanders were
running out of resources, which connects to the fact that people nowadays think that money
serves as happiness because its one thing that provides all our needs and essentials, some
wealthy countries have more satisfied people. The very poor tend not to be happy...money does
not seem to make a substantial difference. Once individuals have the necessities of life and are
not extremely poor, then income does not seem to make a difference in happiness. This quote
exemplifies the idea of having a community of family is what truly defines happiness and not
only the resources needed in life but the sense of feeling safe and content with life and where you
stand is something greater than having all the wealth in the world.

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Though the Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society sheltered its members, the islanders were
still dealing with the external factor outside of their safe haven. They still had to deal with and
experience war. The book club may not fulfill their families or resources absence but the
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was not only a club, but it was a home to the
islanders and the outsiders in which they welcomed as their own family. Each members were
able to find their safe haven within the society and were able to be content in their occupation
even though World War II was consuming their surroundings. Some even lost their families
because of curfew and concentration camps, some lost their loved ones by being taken away
from them, and some may have almost nothing as their resources the community sheltered each
members no matter what situation, age nor social class. We read books, talked books, argued
over books, and became dearer and dearer to one another. [Maugery,51] This quote provides an
example of what the root of this society was, which was books. Each members were able to
forget about their occupation, problems and issues when they were in the club, reading books and
getting lost in them as an escape from their harsh reality.
The Guernsey and Potato Peel Pie Society attracted many others no matter what their
occupation is. Juliet Ashton the writer, Dawsey Adams the pig farmer, Eben Ramsey the
fisherman, etc. These citizens were able to cope with the war and their external issues when
entering their internal world of books. I came to love our book meetings- they helped to make
the occupation bearable. [Booker, 92] This quote exemplifies that the club gave a sense of
comfort to its members. Thus the sense of family helped them overcome the trauma.

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Work Cited
Belic, Roko. Happy. The Happy Movie. Netflix 2011.

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Lerner, Jennifer S. The Financial Costs of Sadness The Financial Costs of Sadness. CSUN
Website. Print, n.d, Web. 01 Apr. 2015.
Miller, GEri. Finding Happiness for Ourselves and for Our Clients. Finding Happiness for
Ourselves and for Our Clients. CSUN website. Print, n.d, Web. 01 Apr. 2015.
Shaffer, Mary Ann and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society. New York Times.
N.Y: Dial, 2008. Print.