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Devon Williams
Professor Ditch
English 113B
1 April 2015
Burying the Worst
In society people have experienced loss which can be some lost of health, or others lost
their dearest, some lost their homes, and others lost their country or social class, and almost
everybody has suffered some pain and anguish. Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, authors
of the epistolary novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, include characters on
the island of Guernsey which, trauma is a problem that may remain permanent. In the novel the
Potato Peel Pie society there is a covert group of local people who found an interest in reading
books together. Connections between books help form something bigger than what they had
imagined. They created a community which provided an escape from the dangerous war going
on near the island of Guernsey. From a perspective of war I learned that many Islanders who deal
with war can have an illness called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the book Dawsey and
Elizabeth had to carry on through the pain. Many characters in the society have either lost
something or someone they love. Trauma is a big issue in todays society, making peoples lives
more difficult than it should be by scaring their memories temporary or permanently. Although
the Germans are occupying the island of Guernsey by taking away their loved ones The Potato
Peel Society overcomes the trauma they face by reading books and creating bonds causing them
to find themselves in believing in their sense of hope.

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In the Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Pie Society, the society consists of many
members who have face triumph during living on the island. Dawsey Adams is a member of the
society, between the absence of his parents in his life, a stuttering problem in his youth, and the
solitude that came with farming. Dawsey could have been faced similar actions like in the quote
given by Ron Langer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is experienced, witnessed, or been
confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury (51).
This quote is a good example that shows that Dawsey could have been worst for even though
there was an occupation happening and through the war. With the creation of the Guernsey
Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Dawsey finally develops a strong network of companions
and breaks out of his shell and forms a friendship between Juliet even though they had not met in
person yet. This brings us back to the main point of this essay which is that with some hope you
can overcome all your obstacles.
Elizabeth McKenna and Dawsey Adams both face obstacles; however they both face two
different situations. She has the most contact with the German soldiers. The islanders all had
stories about the German occupation that they would tell her. Elizabeth held a lot of relation with
most of the islanders relation most often as a close friend. She has been missing since being
deported from Guernsey as punishment for helping a Polish slave worker. She had been taken to
a concentration camp which damaged her and the Potato Peel society. Many of the members of
the society hoped she would return one day and that she would be okay when she comes back,
and I would agree. I agree to how the members are thinking because I wouldnt give up hope
easy and always hoping for the best. Word eventually reaches the islanders that she was killed
later at a concentration camp. The long-pending closure to the mystery of Elizabeth's position is
bittersweet for the islanders. The islanders are grateful that the seemingly endless period of

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assumption is over. Amelia Maugery somberly sums up the islanders' mentality, stating, "We had
been praying that she would return to us, but it is better to know the truth than to live in
uncertainty." (190-220). Because Elizabeth had united the islanders during and after the
occupation with the continued meetings of the literary society, they awaited her return to simply
feel whole again.
Moreover, society is able to see the shining light on the path to reality by finding
happiness through reading books and making friendships. Members of the Potato Peel Pie
society learned from others that kindness and bravery never wavered even while Elizabeth
experienced the horrors of a concentration camp. Members in the society illustrates that
remaining hopeful and creating friendships will give others strength. For instance, in the film
Happy by Roko Belic shows that happiness is found in different ways. In the film we see how
life is very difficult and how one character has lost his family but still strives on. This relates to
overcoming trauma by showing that helplessness is always involved in a trauma experience and
challenging to overcome.
Remarkably, memories and dreams of the war remain on Guernsey. From victims point
of view they show that trauma is an experience of life that is complex reaction to the event that
endangers ones existence. The reaction to such an event arouses the complex mechanism of the
physical, emotional, cognitive and willing processes. The society itself was having problems
avoiding getting caught similar to Elizabeth. With their sense of hope they all knew that it is the
base of their survival. This can relate to the reading of Jelena Jaukovic A traumatic experience
is strong if a sudden event, that arouses helplessness and an unsafe existence (178). This means
that a traumatic experience like seeing Elizabeth they all feel like their life is in danger as time
goes by.
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The Occupation on the island of Guernsey was very harming to many of the islanders
living there. Facing brutal damages to their food and the struggle for survival was very hard for
everyone. In the novel by Marina Nemat, The Secondhand Book Seller, states, I was afraid to
ask my mother for money, so I decided to sell my pencil box (572). This quote contrasts to what
some of the islanders were going through even though they feared the Germans they needed
help. Avoidance behavior from the society as avoiding any person, place or thing that may be a
reminder of the trauma, in particular anything that may have already served as a 'trigger' for
anxiety or overwhelming feelings. It also states how in the society they would have secret
meetings to dodge all the soldiers. The result of this leads the islanders to kill dogs and cats so
that they can have something to eat because the Germans were taking all of their supplies and
foods.
Although some might argue that overcoming trauma is easy task to do, even though you
may not and even myself how it is to go through a traumatic experience its not easy. The novel
illustrates that people can overcome trauma of war through hope, friendship, and forming a
reading society. They experienced hardship they overcame the trauma by reading which helped
them forget about the bad parts of the German occupation. The Germans were are on the island
for longer than expected and took most of the food away from the people living there. That
means we have to understand the integral experience of the victims suffering and objective
social transition which each member had an experience going through. Hope, friendship, and
forming communities arent an easy process. Thiers still the problem of war occupation and there
is still a great deal of struggle to go through.
To overcoming the effects of trauma it is necessary to change these reactions and begin to
see events in a different light. As in the novel the book club members demonstrates members
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coming together, creating a book club, reading, and making connections help each other
overcome all the problems they face. In the beginning of the novel we see that many members
had a bond that was just starting to form but as time passed they began to see life in another
light. Even though this can be dramatic and hard to get over the connections between them
helped form hope which was shown. Even though they had lost everything from loved ones,
animals, social class and money shows that together building bonds and making connections that
these help build a brighter future look forward to.

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Works Citied
Happy. Dir. Roko Belic. Perf. Anne Bechsgaard. Wadi Rum Productions, 2011. DVD.
Jaukovic, Jelena. "The Manners of Overcoming Stress Generated By War Conflict
Trauma." European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law & Criminal Justice 10.2/3 (2002):
177-181. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
LANGER, RON. "Combat Trauma, Memory, and The World War II Veteran." War,
Literature & The Arts: An International Journal of The Humanities 23.1
(2011): 50-58. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Nemat, Marina. "The Second Hand Bookseller." Literacy Publisher, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

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