The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by

Ann Shaffer

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Mrs. Amelia Maugery Character Analysis

Amelia Maugery is one of only a few highly educated people on Guernsey. She houses the library for the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. In her sixties, Amelia is described as being extremely beautiful, kind, and fiercely protective of her friends and chosen family. Her protective nature shines through when she begins corresponding with Juliet and asks first for Juliet to assure her that she won't make fun of the Society. As Juliet learns more about the Society's history and about Elizabeth, Amelia shares that she's also very protective of Kit: while she feels that they have an obligation to look for any of Kit's German relatives, Amelia is also uneasy about possibly having to send Kit to live with Nazis in a foreign and destroyed country. Though she was initially wary about Elizabeth's romance with Christian, she too came to see Christian as a good, honest, and kind man. Amelia struggles to come to terms with the horrors of the war and the constant reminders that it happened. She lost her son Ian in the war and she sees the bunkers the Todt laborers built as a constant reminder of the war's atrocities. This becomes especially pronounced when the Society receives a letter from a Frenchwoman named Remy with news of Elizabeth's death. Amelia and Dawsey visit Remy, and Amelia finds Remy's emaciated and frail appearance extremely difficult to bear. When Remy does agree to visit Guernsey, she stays with Amelia while Kit, who was in Amelia's care, lives with Juliet. When Juliet later approaches Amelia about her desire to adopt Kit, Amelia cries with relief and promises to support Juliet and speak to Kit's legal guardian and the lawyer in charge, Mr. Dilwyn, whom she's known since he was a boy.

Mrs. Amelia Maugery Quotes in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Amelia Maugery or refer to Mrs. Amelia Maugery. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Literature and Connection Theme Icon
).
Part 1: 4 Mar, 1946 Quotes

Passive Suffering? Passive Suffering! I nearly seized up. What ailed the man? Lieutenant Owen, he wrote a line, "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns." What's passive about that, I'd like to know. That's exactly how they do die. I saw it with my own eyes, and I say to hell with Mr. Yeats.

Related Characters: Clovis Fossey (speaker), Juliet Ashton, Mrs. Amelia Maugery
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: 12 Mar, 1946 Quotes

The principal work of the baby's maintenance was undertaken by Amelia Maugery, with other Society members taking her out—like a library book—for several weeks at a time.

They all dandled the baby, and now that the child can walk, she goes everywhere with one or another of them—holding hands or riding on their shoulders. Such are their standards!

Related Characters: Miss Adelaide Addison (speaker), Juliet Ashton, Elizabeth McKenna, Mrs. Amelia Maugery, Kit McKenna
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: 13 May, 1946 Quotes

I sometimes think that we are morally obliged to begin a search for Kit's German relations, but I cannot bring myself to do it. Christian was a rare soul, and he detested what his country was doing, but the same cannot be true for many Germans...And how could we send our Kit away to a foreign—and destroyed—land, even if her relations could be found? We are the only family she's ever known.

Related Characters: Mrs. Amelia Maugery (speaker), Juliet Ashton, Kit McKenna, Captain Christian Hellman
Page Number: 137-38
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: 17 Jul, 1946 Quotes

Maybe every mother looks at her baby that way—with that intense focus—but Elizabeth put it on paper. There was one shaky drawing of a wizened little Kit, made the day after she was born, according to Amelia.

Related Characters: Juliet Ashton (speaker), Elizabeth McKenna, Sidney Stark, Mrs. Amelia Maugery, Kit McKenna
Page Number: 203
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mrs. Amelia Maugery Quotes in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Amelia Maugery or refer to Mrs. Amelia Maugery. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Literature and Connection Theme Icon
).
Part 1: 4 Mar, 1946 Quotes

Passive Suffering? Passive Suffering! I nearly seized up. What ailed the man? Lieutenant Owen, he wrote a line, "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns." What's passive about that, I'd like to know. That's exactly how they do die. I saw it with my own eyes, and I say to hell with Mr. Yeats.

Related Characters: Clovis Fossey (speaker), Juliet Ashton, Mrs. Amelia Maugery
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: 12 Mar, 1946 Quotes

The principal work of the baby's maintenance was undertaken by Amelia Maugery, with other Society members taking her out—like a library book—for several weeks at a time.

They all dandled the baby, and now that the child can walk, she goes everywhere with one or another of them—holding hands or riding on their shoulders. Such are their standards!

Related Characters: Miss Adelaide Addison (speaker), Juliet Ashton, Elizabeth McKenna, Mrs. Amelia Maugery, Kit McKenna
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: 13 May, 1946 Quotes

I sometimes think that we are morally obliged to begin a search for Kit's German relations, but I cannot bring myself to do it. Christian was a rare soul, and he detested what his country was doing, but the same cannot be true for many Germans...And how could we send our Kit away to a foreign—and destroyed—land, even if her relations could be found? We are the only family she's ever known.

Related Characters: Mrs. Amelia Maugery (speaker), Juliet Ashton, Kit McKenna, Captain Christian Hellman
Page Number: 137-38
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: 17 Jul, 1946 Quotes

Maybe every mother looks at her baby that way—with that intense focus—but Elizabeth put it on paper. There was one shaky drawing of a wizened little Kit, made the day after she was born, according to Amelia.

Related Characters: Juliet Ashton (speaker), Elizabeth McKenna, Sidney Stark, Mrs. Amelia Maugery, Kit McKenna
Page Number: 203
Explanation and Analysis: