The Country of the Pointed Firs - Sarah Orne Jewett

“I could not help wondering what errand had brought him out in search of me” (Jewett 9).

Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Country of the Pointed Firs explores an aging town. Aging seems to be an appropriate word as the majority of the people in Dunnet Landing are older, a juxtaposition to the narrator who seems to be a great deal younger than any of the people she encounters. Upon reading chapter 5, entitled “Captain Littlepage”, I immediately connected it back to Mark Twain’s “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. In Twain’s story, he is subject to a tale about Jim Smiley told to him by an older gentleman who, by the end of his story, does not help the protagonist with his original plight. However, the protagonist in Twain’s story was polite enough to sit and listen to a story from a man of another generation, similar to the protagonist in Jewett’s story whose work is disrupted by Captain Littlepage. Although this disruption serves as a minor annoyance at first, the protagonist listens to Littlepage’s story and by the end, begins to realize its importance. The story serves as a glimpse into what life used to be like in Dunnet Landing, before the population began aging and life started to change. Everyone in Dunnet Landing seems to have a story, and although some of them may be dull, each one contributes to the history of the town. There are times when we may look at older generations and think about how they were once young. We may think about how they got to that point in their lives and what their story is, but we often don’t take the time to ask. Although the protagonist in “The Country of the Pointed Firs” did not ask Captain Littlepage to tell his story, their ability to listen to it made all the difference as it proves that the only way to get a sense of a whole place is to take each individual story into account.