Dawsey Adams Character Analysis

Dawsey is a jack-of-all-trades on Guernsey and a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Prior to his membership in the Society, however, Dawsey was extremely shy, quiet, and had a stutter. After his parents' early deaths, he was alone and mostly friendless. After the Society began and he started reading, Dawsey's stutter disappeared and he became more confident. He writes to Juliet after obtaining a used copy of a Charles Lamb book that Juliet used to own. The two begin a correspondence about the Society, the German occupation, and about their shared love of books and of Charles Lamb in particular. He's instrumental in asking others, specifically Amelia Maugery, to write to Juliet about their experiences of the occupation. Through their letters, Juliet learns that Dawsey was good friends with Elizabeth and eventually, Elizabeth's lover, the German Christian Hellman. In the present, with Elizabeth missing on the continent and Christian dead, Dawsey helps the other Society members care for their four-year-old daughter, Kit. He adores Kit and loves caring for her. When Juliet arrives on Guernsey, Dawsey shows her a number of beautiful places and generally acts as her tour guide. Others observe that Dawsey is in love with Juliet, but neither Dawsey nor Juliet accept this until much later. Things become more complicated after the Society receives news of Elizabeth's death from Remy, a Frenchwoman who met Elizabeth in the concentration camp. Dawsey believes that it's the Society's moral obligation to Elizabeth to house and care for Remy, which Juliet takes to mean that Dawsey loves Remy, not her. Isola notices that, after Remy announces her return to France, Dawsey—who has always been lonely—seems to mind being lonely for the first time. Isola also takes this to mean that Dawsey is in love with Remy, but rather than discover clues that support that hypothesis, she finds a number of clues that Dawsey actually loves Juliet. When Juliet proposes to Dawsey, he accepts immediately. Juliet writes to Sidney afterwards that becoming engaged seems to have done away with all of Dawsey's shyness.