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Sophia Markarian

Professor Ditch

English 115

1 November 2018

Happy or Not?

Most people can admit to wanting to find their inner happiness. This happiness seems to

be the motive behind each person’s thoughts and actions. Every person has a different way of

expressing or showing their happiness. The book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie

Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, contains the main theme of helping individuals

find their inner happiness in the middle of World War II during the German occupation of the

island of Guernsey. The Germans tried to control the citizens with the use of fear by forcing strict

rules upon the citizens on the island. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society was formed

after a group of neighbors were out past curfew and needed an excuse to avoiding getting caught,

so they claimed to have a book club, which ended up becoming real. The main character, Juliet

Ashton, is a writer living in London who is planning to write a book about the struggles of the

people of the Island of Guernsey and the people’s stories during the war and their reactions after

the war. Another character, Dawsey Adams, is a citizen of Guernsey who used to be a pig farmer

and has found an interest in books written by certain authors. Juliet helps him find books to read

in order to keep his mind off of the limited food and constant supervision. Juliet is as a sad and

lonely person who has had a very disappointing and traumatic life until she manages to find her

way to Guernsey, where her future life and happiness awaits her. In contrast, Dawsey can be

described as a happier person because of his support system on the island and how he changed his
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mind set in order to forget about the war. One can be able to tell that Juliet is sad and that Dawsey

is happy by their personality, the way they react in certain situation, and the way they treat others.

Dawsey Adams is one of the mentally strongest members in the Guernsey Literary Society

because of the way he is able to put his sadness aside and tend to his friend’s needs. The article,

“What Suffering Does” by David Brooks explains how suffering changes people either for better

or for worse, how they deal with it, or how they grow and learn from it. All the people of Guernsey,

including Dawsey Adams, have gone through their share of suffering because of the war. Dawsey

Adams was a pig farmer who had been forced by the Germans to grow potatoes. He had gone

through his share of suffering because of the German occupation. Even though Dawsey had his

pigs, he was still very lonely until he joined the literary society. Once he finally joined the literary

society he finally felt like he could recover but in his own way. “Recovering from suffering is not

like recovering from a disease. Many people don’t come out healed; they come out different.”

(Shaffer 287). Dawsey realized that just being with the society he had recovered from the damage

of the war in his own way. Dawsey wasn’t too thrilled to join the society however he just wanted

to come to a meeting to have an actual meal since the Germans had cut off most of the food supply

and the literary society had hidden a pig to make a roast. He eventually realized that this book club

had given everyone hope and supported them. It gave Dawsey Adams the ability to forget that

there was a war going on and because of this, he was able to recover while trying to move on with

each of their lives.

Dawsey’s character relates to the article, “How to Be Happy: 23 Ways to Be Happier” by

Tchiki Davis, Ph.D., in which she states that “When you imagine something- even happiness- your

brain acts as if its real. We can use imagination to help create happiness out of thin air and enjoy

our experiences more.” Dawsey, as well as the rest of the Guernsey citizens, is the embodiment of
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this quote because of the way they have changed their view of the life that they had been granted.

He, and the rest of the gang, have the weight of the war on their shoulders as well as the stress of

worrying about food rations and the soldiers. He should be putting all of this aside and think of a

happier life without a war happening. In doing so, their minds will, according to the article by

Davis, create a happier life and make them think that they are happy and will allow them to

envision a normal life. Dawsey Adams had his personal strength to be able to push aside his

struggles and volunteer to take care of his friends’ child, Kit. Dawsey Adams took care of Kit, the

child of his close friend Elizabeth who was a founder in the literary society and came up with the

idea of the book club to save them from the punishment of the German soldiers. She was killed

after being sent to a concentration camp and had attacked a guard while she was trying to protect

another girl from getting punished and beat. Dawsey was mentally strong and capable enough to

be able to take care of Kit and be able to remember his dear friend with the rest of his neighbors.

Although Dawsey is considered happy, some people may claim that he is actually miserable

because he feels lonely due to the fact that he didn’t want to join the literary society in the first

place and how he can’t confess his love for Juliet, however, Dawsey has the support of his friends

to help him heal. Dawsey has the support of his literary society, in which they have made their

own world of happiness, while the world outside their walls is falling apart.

Juliet, on the other hand, is hidden in her own deepening sadness and loneliness. According

to the book, Juliet Ashton is a writer who had to change her name to Izzy Bickerstaff, by order of

her friend and publisher Sidney, in order to sell her books. She is not able to write her books under

her own name which is a disappointment for her. Juliet lost her parents when they died in a motor

accident when she was twelve years old, so she is familiar with dealing with a loss since a very

young age. She received a marriage proposal from Markham V. Reynolds, a rich American, after
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only a few short dates and she wants to say no, but she does not want to face the fact that she might

end up alone. Juliet then decides to visit Guernsey for herself to understand each person’s life

stories but with the disapproval of her lover, Markham. She later realizes how her life in Guernsey

is where she really belongs and tries to understand her sadness by picturing herself living in

Guernsey permanently with all the people she’s met. According to the article, “The Alchemy of

Suffering” by Matthieu Ricard, mentions that “Suffering will always exist as a universal

phenomenon, but every individual has the potential for liberation from it.” (37). This relates to

Juliet because she has been keeping in her own mind about all her grieving and the effects of the

war in London and how she can see the damages even a few years later. Juliet needs to realize that

in order for her to be happy, she needs to change her mindset and realize what she can do to

accomplish that, which she does with her move to Guernsey. Her motivation to move to Guernsey

is that she needs to get out of the city that has no love for her and has very few friends in and to

move to a city where she is appreciated and loved for who she is and is surrounded by the support

system of friends and new-found family that she needs.

Juliet Ashton relates to the article, “Why Is It So Hard To Exit A Bad Situation” by Isaac

Morehouse, because of the fact that Morehouse explains that people tend to not leave a bad

situation because it is easier to stay than having to muster up the courage to get up and leave. “No

one gets mad at you for staying. You get cheap popularity and/or sympathy. You are not

accountable for your feelings. It’s always the fault of the bad situation you’re in”. Juliet shows

her relation to this quote because she felt that she was in a bad situation in London by being forced

to write under a different name, having to be constantly reminded of the war and how lonely she

is, and having to choose whether or not to marry Markham V. Reynolds and how she believed that

no one will blame her for staying with him. Although some people may claim Juliet has already
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found her happiness, since she has Markham Reynolds and she’s not alone, others may see how

much Juliet silently suffered with a man she did not love, and who controlled her as if she was his

property. Mark had refused to let her visit Guernsey and when she went anyway, and when he

unexpectedly showed up, he began to speak rudely about her found friends who she cared for

deeply. Once she had arrived on the island and had discovered the wonderful people of Guernsey,

she decided that she would be the only one who could pull herself out of her unhappy life in

London and gather the courage to move to Guernsey. This also refers back to Ricard’s article that

Juliet herself is responsible for her own happiness and has the power to change whatever she

doesn’t like in her own life. She decided to visit Guernsey and fell in love with what she had found

and eventually picked up and moved there.

Juliet and Dawsey had found love within each other at the end of the book, but not before

Juliet had to learn to pull herself out of her depressing life of loneliness and had to pick up and

move to Guernsey. Dawsey is a happy person who has his friends from his book club who had

now become family, by his side, while Juliet was a lonely person who ended up finding her true

self as a citizen of Guernsey. Finding their inner happiness is shown as a main goal behind each

character’s motives. As explained by all the articles and authors above, suffering is everywhere

and, in every person, however, each author explains to us that it is up to every person to improve

their own mind set. Each article gives their advice on how to deal with everyone’s version of

suffering. Brooks explains in his article that everyone recovers differently from suffering, while

Davis gives advice about how to overcome that suffering. Ricard explains that everyone suffers

but it’s the individual persons job to pull themselves out, while Morehouse explains why it’s so

hard to leave a bad situation. Dawsey had to be the backbone of the literary society while Juliet

had to understand how to take herself out of a bad situation.

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Works Cited

Brooks, David. “Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader.” Pursuing Happiness: a

Bedford Spotlight Reader, by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's,

a Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016, pp. 284–287.

Davis, Tchiki. “How to Be Happy: 23 Ways to Be Happier.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers,

1 Jan. 2018, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/201801/how-be-

happy-23-ways-be-happier.

Morehouse, Isaac. “Why Is It So Hard to Exit a Bad Situation? • Isaac Morehouse.” Isaac

Morehouse, 3 Mar. 2015, isaacmorehouse.com/2015/03/03/why-is-it-so-hard-to-exit-a-

bad-situation/.

Ricard, Matthieu. “Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader.” Pursuing Happiness: a

Bedford Spotlight Reader, by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's,

a Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016, pp. 34–41.