The Country of the Pointed Firs- Emily Armstrong

Within the first few pages of Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Country of the Pointed Firs I was immediately struck by her close attention to detail in describing the characters and scenes within the small village. There seems to be a great emphasis on the environment that makes up Dunnet Landing. She describes the village as “these houses made the most of their seaward view, and there was a gayety and determined floweriness in their bits of garden ground; the small-paned high windows in the peaks of their steep gables were like knowing eyes that watched the harbor and the far sea-line beyond, or looked northward all along the shore and its background of spruces and balsam firs” (1). With this Jewett is personifying the small town, giving it the feeling of being a friend with bright human-like qualities and homes that seemed to observe the harbors goings-on’s. The importance of the environment in this fishing village is clear with this opening description and it is brought up often in the stories told by the members of its small, tightknit community.