The Country of the Pointed Firs (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Sarah Orne Jewett
- First Published: 1896
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The late nineteenth century
- Setting: The Maine coastal village of Dunnet Landing
- Principal Characters: The boarder, Mrs. Almira Todd, Mrs. Abby Martin, William Blackett, Esther Hight, Elijah Tilley, Captain Littlepage
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Regional fiction, Character study
- Subjects: Memory, Love or romance, Authors or writers, Nineteenth century, Villages, Friendship, New England, Women, Small-town life, Sailing or sailors, Loneliness, Fishing or fishermen, Old age or elderly people, Nostalgia, Folk medicine, Herbs
- Locales: Dunnet Landing, ME
Form and Content
In The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett weaves together several sketches and tales that show the New England character. Taken together, the stories form a portrait of New England life in the late nineteenth century. Individually, each chapter can stand alone as a character sketch or short story.
The novel opens with the arrival of the boarder, a woman writer, in June and closes in the fall, when she leaves Dunnet Landing. The rustic locale is described in the realistic detail of the local color school of American literature. For...
[The entire page is 2307 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
