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Alexus Tapia
Professor Ditch
English 113 B
08 May 2015
A Family in Guernsey
The epistolary novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann
Shaffer and Annie Barrows takes place in a little island named Guernsey. Throughout the novel
the German occupation has taken over and families are torn apart from each other. The German
occupation took place from 1940-1945, which is known as WWII. People are being captured by
the Germans, put into concentration camps and being killed. There is a group of people in
Guernsey who come together through books and by sharing stories they remember. Although the
people in the society arent family they still act like it and care for one another as if they were a
family. This is important because you dont have to be blood related to be family. They help each
other get through the German occupation, they have Kit who is a little girl that they all care for
and Elizabeth who has brought them all together. When a person thinks about family they
reminisce upon who has been there for them through thick and thin, a person they care for and
has cared for them and at times that doesnt always mean being biologically related. To me
family is anyone who looks out for me, who has my back and I have theirs. And in this novel I
feel that, that is what it means to all the others. In this time that the war is going on it is hard to
find someone you can trust afraid that someone will tell a soldier what youre doing and who
youre with. The people in this novel have been blessed to find one another and become part of a
family, because not many people would welcome someone into their lives so easily and so
willingly.

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Throughout the novel they all have something in common, which is Elizabeth McKenna.
Elizabeth is Kits mother and no one knows about her whereabouts except that she got taken
away during the German occupation. Elizabeth was the one who came up with the Literary
Society they were all in. She made up a story to keep the Germans from arresting her and her
friends Dawsey, Isola, Eben Ramsey, John Brooker, and Will Thisbee after they had gone to eat
at Amelia Ashtons house. Although some officers did go once in a while to the meetings they
didnt stay for long. Before the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society came into play
none of them knew each other except for Elizabeth. She was the one who brought all of them
into one roof and gathered up a family during the hard time of the occupation. When everyone
talks about Elizabeth McKenna they talk about how kind she is and how she always stands up for
what she believes in. Brinta began to rage at a bleeding girl then she began to beat the
girl Elizabeth grabbed the rod and turned it upon her Guards struck Elizabeth they
shot her in the back of her head (pg. 181 Shaffer & Barrows). Brinta took role call at the
Ravensbruck Concentration Camp where Elizabeth was located at and Brinta started beating a
girl up because she was menstruating. Elizabeth knowing that was un-called for ran to the girl
and took the rod away from Brinta and started hitting her with it. Guards came and killed
Elizabeth soon after that. Elizabeth knew what was going to come out of that action and still did
it. She didnt know the girl they were beating but still went to her rescue. You dont have to be
related to do such action but if it is your gut feeling you go and be brave about it and thats just
how Elizabeth was.
Besides Elizabeth, another thing they had in common was that they were all going
through hard ships during WWII. Juliet described each of them as scrawny, they once had
muscle and meat in them but because food had been running out they lost weight. They didnt

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have food, they were living in a time during the war, and were all scared something even more
severe would happen. They began to confide in one another and tell each other stories and bond
through books. They all had independent struggles and did try to help one another out. What they
did to overcome this traumatic time for them was to write letters to Juliet, talk it out, and form
the society. They tried to overcome these circumstances in many different ways, a man took it
upon himself to save pets, another person turned to nature to help cope but something they all
had was each other to give them a helping hand.
Although they werent responsible for Elizabeths 4 year old daughter
Kit they acted like a family and took her under their wings while Elizabeth
was away. In a sense she too brings them all together because of how little
she is, and how she needs people in her life that are willing to fend for her.
All of them are more than willing to do that for Elizabeth while she is away
with the Germans. Elizabeth had not really told anyone about Kit, because
she was scared that the Germans would take her away.
Eben Ramsey did not want to take the chance of his grandson Eli being captured so he
sent him away to England at the age of 7. Eben regretted sending Eli away at times but then saw
how all the kids in Guernsey lived and shook it off. In The Children of the Occupations Born
During the Second World War and Beyond An Overview by Ingvill C. Mochmann, Sabine Lee
and Barbara Stelzl-Marx talk about how kids born during this time are not as well as they should
be financially mentally and physically. Analysis of register data show these children have
poorer health less education and income (pg. 264 Mochmann, Lee, Stelzl-Marx). They had to
make tough discussions for their kids and even though they were difficult they did it out of love
and to protect them. Eben would take care of Kit as well, he cared for her and thats what family

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is about, opening your arms to a child that is not yours and love them as if they were. Kit is
family to them, they all adore her and they want to make the right choices for the children.
Dawsey stepped in and told Kit about Elizabeth and how she had passed away. He took
on the father role and told her horrifying news. Kit didnt really express how she felt about it but
Juliet doesnt want to push Kit into telling her. A lot of them are on their tippy toes with Kit, even
Sidney who is Juliets publilsher, bought Kit a present. They are trying their best to be there for
Kit and not to hover around her to trigger any sad emotions.
What they have all done to become a family is keep in contact with each other. Juliet
continued sending letters to Dawsey Adams, Eben Ramsey, Adeliaide Addison, and Isola Pribby
although they were miles and miles away a letter never failed to be sent or read. They told each
other stories about what was going on in their lives and opened up to each other quickly. They
trusted one another with these stories and thats how you are supposed to be with your family.
Juliet visited Guernsey to find all the wonderful people she wrote letters to, she tried to go above
and beyond for all of them and she couldnt wait to see them. All those people Ive come to
know and even love a little, waiting to see- me (159, Shaffer & Barrows). Isola and Dawsey
went to pick up Juliet when she first arrived at Guernsey and they already liked her the first time
they officially met.
The members of the Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society created this safe space
for all to be. They gathered food when they met up and argued about books. When they would
have a meeting it was like getting away from the war and being in their own zone, they created
their own little world apart from Guernsey. In Culture and Communication by Anastacia Kurylo
she states that, Culture construction [is] created through the consistent and repetitive

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communication of symbols by people about a group identity (5, Kurylo). Kurylo claims that you
can make a culture by using recurring symbols in your society and in the potato peel pie society
their symbols are the books. These people created a society of their own out of books which
eventually turned into one big family.
To conclude, life will always through obstacles that someone will need to overcome and
who they overcome them with is a person that will be by their side no matter how rough it gets,
whether it is a spouse, a family member or a friend. Once someone gets close to a person and
spends as much time with them as they can they become more than just a friend they become
family as so with Juliet and the rest of the society members. They were there for one another
when they needed help to get through sticky situations. Juliet went to visit people she loved,
while there she had grown very fond of them and grew to them. Dawsey, Kit, Eben and the rest
grew to love Juliet as well and they created a family during the aftermath of the German
occupation.

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Works Cited
Ingvill C. Mochmann, Sabine Lee and Barbara Stelzl-Marx Historical Social Research /
Historische Sozialforschung Vol. 34, No. 3 (129), Social Bookkeeping Data: Data Quality and
Data Management / Soziale Buchfhrungsdaten: Datenqualitt und Datenmanagement (2009),
pp. 263-282

Kurylo, Anastacia. Culture and Communication Published online: 19 Aug 2006

Shaffer, Mary Ann., and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
New York, NY: Dial, 2008. Print.