Khoury 1

Shadi Khoury
Professor Ditch
English 113B
2 April 2015
A Beacon of Happiness and Escape
Through difficult times and unfortunate conditions, literature unifies a culture to begin an
unusual and daring change in hopes of happiness and escape. In the book, The Guernsey Literary
and Potato Peel Pie Society, written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, the story takes
place during World War II. A group of islanders are oppressed and their land is occupied in a
quite remote location in the English Channel, named Guernsey. While their problems are
neglected and resources are low, certain citizens gather to learn of peace and happiness through
the participation in books and literature. This begins a change. The individuals in the novel
demonstrate a connection toward one another, as the founding of the book club creates
relationships and unifies the culture of Guernsey. The book club members live in hopes of
change from curfew and dependent German rule; allowing their passion for literature to provide
a method of escape. Literature provides certain citizens on the island of Guernsey a source of
happiness and sense of peace, as this constructs relationships and provides an escape to get
through the hardships of the occupation and strict rule under oppression of the Nazi regime.
Under strict oppression the citizens find happiness, and later peace across the literature that is
shared with each other. The island of Guernsey is under German occupation, causing the
members to be held under strict laws and curfew. Also, they are not allowed to speak, perform,
or live freely at their own will. Nevertheless, the struggling citizens discovered the book club one
night when an islander was feasting on a pig and invited other islanders to join. The Nazi soldiers

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caught the group and the club members were interrogated, having strict rules applied. An
islander named Elizabeth McKenna bravely created a lie of how it was the first night of their
book club gathering. Thus, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was born. The
book club brought about people finding happiness and peace from their discovery of books and
sharing of literature during the occupation. This is similar to the argument made by Ruth Cigman
in her academic article, Happiness Rich and Poor: Lessons From Philosophy and Literature that
was published in the Journal of Philosophy of Education. Cigman claims that happiness is a
larger idea. Happiness must be considered as literary examples in order to open up new ways of
conceiving relationships in education. Cigman writes, We attend communally, conversationally,
and often argumentatively to the dramas of human life. This, I argue, is how we grapple with
large ideas and bring about ethical learning (Cigman). Happiness is found in a larger scope. She
claims that one must search for the complex emotion through all the hardships in life in order to
achieve happiness. Essentially, joy is discovered where individuals started, by learning. Some
example include, learning from our books, experiences, arguments, and literature. But to further
define happiness, inspiring testimonies where recorded in the Netflix documentary called Happy,
directed by Roko Belic. The video Happy contains real life examples of people who are living in
not the most luxurious or fortunate situations. As well as have suffered from traumatic
experiences. Other testimonies include people who are not wealthy; but manage to be the
happiest they have ever been in their struggling lives. For instance, an older father in Brazil
named Ronaldo Fadul, has been surfing for over 40 years. He discovers happiness via surfing as
he claims the relaxing hobby is his religion. Fadul states, At an age when most people think that
youre falling already, I feel that I am still rising with every wave that I catch. I feel Happy
(Fadul). Ronaldo found his happiness when he escaped his consuming work life. He was pleased

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with making money and being preoccupied with life, but was never happy. That is until he
settled down and focused on surfing. Comparably, as Fadul learned from surfing to be his escape
and happiness, the islanders did as well. Lastly, when a plethora of people within the same
community feel dis pleased, a change is started; making a secret book club, and sharing ideas
within the culture and out led to achieving this change.
A similar effect includes literature bringing the citizens together in order to construct
relationships. To define relationships, Oxford Dictionaries states it is the way in which two or
more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected. As revealed in
the book, bonds are created when people experience trauma together or can relate to similar
events. For example, Guernsey cultural space included the island continuously being under rule.
The people were never self-ruled being located in a remote location. This quote was found from
Juliet as she searched through an old library in London for facts about Guernseys history. Juliet
reads, The Channel Islands freely owe their allegiance and love to the English Crown, but head
this, deer reader- THE CROWN CANNOT MAKE THEM DO ANYTHING THEY DO NOT WANT
TO DO! (Shaffer/Barrows 112). Guernseys history is featured as a land that constantly
experiences dependable rule. At the time of this quote William, the Duke of Normandy,
conquered the island. The relevance shows that the islanders have always shared this bond in
common and live with a rebellious nature. These traits provide a foundation for a strong
relationship. Literature, reading, and sharing ideas connect people that suffer the same hardships
in order to establish relationships and make life more bearable.
Another effect of literature entails the peoples discovery of its power on the island, as a
beacon of escape from the harsh and injustice events that are occurring. Sharing ideas helps to
withstand the occupation. These philosophies are derived from forms of learning and literature.

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The societys members found this escape within each meeting, idea shared, and joining together
to strengthen the power of the GLPPPS. Other examples of escape through literature include a
featured memoir that showcases Marina Nemats story, Prisoner of Tehran (2007). In her article,
The Secondhand Bookseller, she details her struggles through the Iranian Revolution. Nemat
passionately writes One day, I gathered all my courage and asked my mother if she would buy
me books, and she said she could buy me only one book a month(Nemat 1). Nemat shows a
desire for knowledge as a young girl. Although inspiring, this is unusual as we witness most
young girls in desire for materialistic items. The importance is demonstrated here as Nemat
shows her desire for knowledge. Often throughout this event, this desire came mostly from the
oppressed and the unfortunate as Nemat indicated she was at the time. She was not granted a
proper education or a simple lesson to gain knowledge due to her oppressors. The young
potential student suffered from harsh oppression at the hands of the Iranians during the 1979
revolution. However, she learns of an escape from it all in the books her mother struggled to
provide for her.
In depth, a more modern example was found in the conflicting Middle East. In Palestine and
Israel, diverse students become educated of each other as opposed to what their oppressors
taught them. The children discovered peace in education through the bilingual teachings of
Arabic and Hebrew during the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Sara Zamirs academic article,
Peace Education Through Bilingual Children's Literature Written in Arabic and in Hebrew:
Different Narratives, Different Socialization, aims to teach children about peace and keep them
sane through the conflict. Zamir writes, Most Arabic-Hebrew texts try to convey to young
readers merely the ideas of coexistence and harmony rather than the notion of peace education in
regions of intense conflicts alongside agonizing and painful costs (Zamir 1). Whether peace is

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taught directly or behind the curtains, education and literature supplies harmony for a group of
people regardless of disagreement. It is a source of unification. With that, the young individuals
caught in the political and religious disorder have an escape from the situation that has taken its
toll on many. Literature can help people under oppression escape the harsh times, so that they
may live bearably throughout the events.
While it is true that literature can bring the best in an unfortunate situation, it does not allow
complete escape because the oppression is still apparent. In fact, having involvement in a
gathering like the book club could be hazardous. The club met after curfew, and anyone who was
caught sneaking out would face the consequences of the Nazi soldiers. Therefore, literature only
helps some of the people of Guernsey get by the occupation. Yet even those individuals cannot
forget life of oppression. For instance, a letter was written on April 8th, 1946 from Mrs. Clara
Saussey to Juliet as she is describing her difficult experience in the literary society. Saussey still
felt oppressed by the occupation when she shares her culinary literature. Clara writes, I believe
they was made so bored, with what the curfew and other nasty Nazi laws, they only wanted an
excuse to get out of an evening, and reading is what they chose. Theyd never have touched a
book, but for that OCCUPATION. I stand by what I say (Shaffer/Barrows 104). The society
served a location to escape tyranny. Though she nevertheless felt oppressed because other
citizens suffered consequences and couldnt completely escape. Literature can make one feel
comfortable and provide a peace of mind. But the peace lasts only for a minimal time because
the situation remains the same. The occupation is still occurring and still supplies an
inconvenience. Lastly, happiness and peace in literature can provide an escape for some of the
civilians- however, it does not allow complete getaway because the event is still contemporary.

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Ultimately, the citizens of Guernsey through the struggle of the German occupation acquire

happiness & peace with the practice of literature. The people connect to one another and build
relationships as they try to escape the strict oppression of the German Nazis during World War
II. In the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, the struggles and escape take
place during the German occupation of an English Channel island named Guernsey. The people
live with their land occupied. Through difficult times and unfortunate conditions, literature
creates a cultural movement to begin an out of the ordinary change in hopes of happiness and
escape. While demonstrated in the book, effects of literature include peace & happiness, escape
from tough times, and connections of people for relationships- throughout the toughest of times
during the German Nazi Occupation.

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Works Cited

Cigman, Ruth. "Happiness Rich and Poor: Lessons from Philosophy and
Literature." Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48.2 (2014): 308-322. Zamir, Sara.
Happy. Dir. Roko Belic. Perf. Marci Shimoff and Gregory Berns. Netflix.com.
Netflix, 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Nemat, Marina. "The Secondhand Bookseller." Priosner of Tehran (2007): 571-74.
Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Oxford University Press. "Definition of Relationship in English:." Relationship:
Definition of Relationship in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). Oxford
Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
"Peace Education Through Bilingual Children's Literature Written in
Arabic and in Hebrew: Different Narratives, Different Socialization." Journal
of Peace Education, 9.3 (2012): 265-275.
Shaffer, Mary Ann., and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel
Pie Society. New York, NY: Dial, 2008. Print.