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Part 1: 18 Jan, 1946
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Literature and Connection
Family, Parenting, and Legitimacy
War, Hunger, and Humanity
Women, Marriage, and Work
Summary
Analysis
In a letter to Sidney, Juliet says she's thrilled to be able to travel by train at night again. Unlike during the war, she's now able to snoop in people's kitchen or sitting room windows as the train zooms buy. She says that in a bookshop today, one man got very indignant that she chose to "bastardize the name of Isaac Bickerstaff," whom he described as a noted journalist. Before Juliet could respond, a woman in the audience angrily pointed out that Isaac Bickerstaff was a pseudonym as well.
The joy that Juliet feels joy at being able to look in people's windows now that the war is over suggests that for her, the war was an isolating experience. Now that it's over, she can reconnect with her friends and with perfect strangers, simply by being able to see that they also exist and lead normal lives.
Themes
Juliet asks if Sidney knows a Markham V. Reynolds, as this man is leaving her flowers at every stop on her book tour. She wonders how this man knows where she is, and admits she's not sure whether to feel flattered or like he's hunting her.
The possibility that Juliet should feel hunted shows that she's unsure about Mark from the beginning; he treats her like prey, not like a person with thoughts, feelings, and desires of her own.
Themes
