Oliva 1

David Oliva

Professor Ditch

English 113B

11 May 2020

Markham Reynolds, Jr. and Sidney Stark: Are they happy or not?

Happiness is a feeling of positivity. This feeling of positivity can come from several

things, such as being in love, being successful, or simply doing what you love. In the novel, The

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, this

book takes place in the era of World War II, and is about a female writer named Juliet Ashton

who receives letters from different people, including a founding member of the Guernsey

Literary Potato Peel Pie Society. The novel mainly takes place in this island in France called

Guernsey Island. The war isn’t really a time where people can honestly claim that they were

happy. Many people were being persecuted from the Nazis if they were Jewish, gay, or etc. That

is why two characters from the novel will be analyzed to determine why they are happy or not.

Markham Reynolds, Jr. is a character from the novel in which I have determined for him to not

be happy, and Sidney Stark is another character from the same novel in which I have determined

for him to be happy. These two play important roles with the novel’s main character decisions.

Markham Reynolds, Jr. isn’t happy because of he pursues his own desires and keeps wanting

more and more, meanwhile Sidney Stark is happy because he enjoys the support and affection,
 Oliva 2

he gets from his friends and family, just as much as he gives to them. Let’s start by analyzing

Markham Reynolds, Jr. character.

Reynolds is a successful man with a lot of money and is kind to his workers for he is not

a horrible boss. He is the type of person that only a single woman can dream of, but despite all

that, he is not happy. As explained in the introductory paragraph, he only pursues his desires and

is used to getting what he wants. In the novel, he is found to be interested with the main

character, Juliet Ashton. They start forming a romantic relationship, until it reaches to the point

where Reynolds proposes to Juliet for marriage. She eventually rejects Reynolds’ proposal and

does it for a few reasons. In the novel, Reynolds writes a letter to Juliet saying, “Your friends are

suspicious lot, especially that fellow Stark; refused to bring you to the cocktail party I threw at

the View office.” (Shaffer and Annie Barrows 34) This says a lot of about the type of person

Reynolds can be in a relationship. He can be the extremely jealous type. Since the beginning,

what was thought to be relationship between Reynolds and Juliet was only a desire by Reynolds

for he even claims that Juliet is the only woman to have made him laugh. Reynolds won’t even

show interest or support in the writings of Juliet. That is why Reynolds starts to become

frustrated from the rejection of Juliet because he is used to having what he desires. There is an

article that serves as evidence that supports Reynold’s reasons for being unhappy. That article is,

Living with Less. A lot Less., by Graham Hill. The article gets into the topic of happiness against

pleasure, which is similar with the type of person that Reynolds is. A quote from the article says,

“Somehow this stuff ended running up running my life, or a lot of it; the things I consumed

ended up consuming me.” (Hill 254). Reynolds was letting himself be consumed by that

frustration. In the novel, there is no explanation towards the aftermath of Reynolds’ frustration
 Oliva 3

after Juliet’s rejection, but it is proven that Reynolds can’t be happy because of how consumed

he is with his desires, such as desiring to marry Juliet. Let us analyze Sidney Stark’s character

and figure out why he is the opposite of Markham Reynolds, Jr.

Sidney Stark is introduced in the novel as the editor of Juliet’s writings and is found to be

a very close friend to Juliet, like a sibling relationship. As claimed that Sidney’s character is

happy because he enjoys the support and affection he gives to his friends and family just as much

as they give to him. He is very compassionate and supportive about the people close to him. A

perfect example that proves this is when Sidney congratulates Juliet for her success in her

writings and her tours that she is taking and says, “I haven’t a doubt of your success.” (4-5). It’s

not just Juliet that Sidney cares about, but for other characters as well that are part of the novel.

There is a second article that supports furthermore that Sidney is happy. The article is called,

‘How Happy Are You and Why?”, by Sonja Lyubomirsky. In the article, Lyubomirsky says,

“The fountain of happiness can be found in how you behave, what you think, and what goals you

set every day of your life.” (Lyubomirsky 157). Sidney’s goals were probably to make everyone

happy, and at the same time, forget that he is in danger of being persecuted by the Nazis. Sidney

constantly looks out for the people he cares about, and seeing them happy makes him happy.

There is another source that supports my claim as well. The article is, “The Incredible Power of

Contentment.”, by Leo Babauta. Babuata talks about how people can start being happy with

what they have. Sidney had his friends and family to care about, which adds more reason for him

to be happy. Now that there have been valid reasons for Markham Reynolds, Jr. to not be happy

and for Sidney Stark being happy, there are a few counter arguments that can prove us wrong.
 Oliva 4

Counter arguments can be made for characters such as Markham Reynolds, Jr., and

Sidney Stark. For example, we never find out what happens Markham Reynolds, Jr after Juliet

turned him off for good. There is not any explanation if he was left heart broken or if he just

went on with his life. Given that the novel consists of only letters, we can’t explore what’s going

on with the characters’ heads or what they are thinking. The same thing can be applied for

Sidney Stark. We don’t truly know what is going on through his head. For all we know, maybe

Sidney isn’t happy with the way things are going during World War 2. He might be displaying

his caring and passionate attitude to his friends and family to not show his feelings. Sidney could

be feeling fear, stress and maybe not like the idea that Nazis are staying in Guernsey Island. It

isn’t quite possible to determine how they feel, that is why we must use the letters that the novel

is composed of, and determine from how they appear and sound in their letters to come to a

conclusion how these characters are happy or not.

These two characters are important roles in the novel, as they shape some of the

important decisions Juliet must make, as the main character of the novel. In the novel, we can

find that these characters don’t find each other appealing as Reynolds develops jealousy for

Sidney and Sidney develops suspicions about Reynolds. This could also play as a viable factor of

whether they are happy or not. With the evidence provided from the novel, and other sources, it

has been determined for Markham Reynolds, Jr. to not happy because of how easily his desires

consume him, not allowing him to even find happiness. Sidney Stark is happy because he is

provided with friends and family for himself to care about. We can finally conclude, knowing

why Markham Reynolds, Jr. is not happy and why Sidney Stark is happy.
 Oliva 5

Works Cited Page

“Babauta, Leo. “The Incredible Power of Contentment.” Zen Habitats, Mar. 2008,

www.zenhabitats.com/.”

Hill, Graham. “Living with Less. A lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew Parfitt and

Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St.Martin’s,2020,2016, pp.254-258

“Jensen, David G. “The Funny Thing about Wanting Something Badly.” Science, 15 Jan. 2015,

www.sciencemag.org/”

Shaffer, Mary Ann, and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Bloomsbury, 2019.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja, “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew

Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St.Martin’s,2020,2016, pp.141-158