The Country of the Pointed Firs- Part Two

So this text is quite episodic. It doesn't seem to be so much about the main character, as about the main character's interactions with the sea-side town and its inhabitants. Many of the stories told are related to an inability to connect with other people. There is the northern town of shadow people, there is also poor Joanna who lived alone on an island for her entire life. There is also the captain whose wife passed on. This text seems very concerned with what the "other" is and whether or not it can be connected to normal society. The main character is always reminded that she is not part of this community and this is made even more apparent by attending the family reunion with Mrs. Todd. The way they talk about certain people was interesting to me. For example, the woman they meet on the way there is not a member of the family. However, Mrs. Todd does not know this at the time. She seems to think higher of the woman when she still believes her to be one of her relations. Once she is an outsider, she isn't as well liked. This text just seems to be filled with people who don't reach normal social standards of the time. Most of them are widowed, or unmarried. So, in a place like this, the main character doesn't seem so out of place. She has found somewhat of a refuge to write in. This small town is full of single women and so it's not out of place for her to be there without a man. For her to be independent. This place seems a sort of heaven to her. Very quiet and very peaceful. However, through out the text, we and she are constantly reminded that she doesn't belong to this place. She doesn't belong and so can't stay. This town and the surrounding islands are like thier own little country because they are isolated from the rest of the United States. Customs and practices are different there. (Like a woman's ability to be independent.) But, the main character must go back to her own country which seems to be a "war zone." One of the last pages of the text says "...the gifts of peace are not for those who live in the thick of battle," (129 in my copy). It gives the idea that she is leaving this refuge to rejoin a battle. It could be the battle for the female independence that she is able to experience freely at Dunnet Landing.