The author says one patrician English leader saw his relationship with the populace thusly: He wasn't responsible TO them. He was responsible FOR them. He was responsible for their care.

Barbara W. Tuchman
About This Quote

In the novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows , this quote is from a letter written by a member of the English government during WW2. This letter is part of a series where the government is seeking help from the islanders of Guernsey. The letter was sent to a woman named Juliet Ashton, a representative of a literary club on Guernsey. In this letter, the government criticizes Juliet’s writing as she does not seem to give enough attention to the plight of those living on Guernsey.

The government official says that he sees her book as an effort to make people feel good about their own situation as opposed to acknowledging how lucky they are to be able to live on such a beautiful island. He says that she only shows the “privilege and good fortune” of living on Guernsey, not its difficulties or what it takes for them to survive.

Source: The Proud Tower: A Portrait Of The World Before The War, 18901914

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