The Country of the Pointed Firs: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Sarah Orne Jewett

First published: 1896

Genre: Novel

Locale: The seacoast of Maine

Plot: Social realism

Time: Late nineteenth century

The Boarder, a woman writer who comes to Dunnet Landing, Maine, to work in seclusion. Here she meets many people and finds friendly, interesting characters.

Mrs. Almira Todd, a friendly widow who accepts the writer as a boarder. She is also an herb doctor, growing herbs in her garden and searching out others in the fields.

Captain Littlepage, an elderly, retired sea captain who tells the writer a yarn about his own shipwreck and a town of ghosts near the North Pole, where souls await their passage to the next world.

Mrs. Blackett, Mrs. Todd's aged mother. She lives on an island with her son William and does her own housework.

William Blackett, Mrs. Todd's brother, a bashful man. He loves Esther Hight and finally is able to marry her when he is in his fifties.

Mrs. Fosdick, a friend of Mrs. Todd. She comes often to visit with her friend and to tell stories about the local folk.

Mr. Tilley, an old fisherman. He is reserved with strangers, but he accepts the writer as a friend and shows her the house he has kept for eight years the same as it was when his wife died.

Esther Hight, a woman loved by William Blackett. She supports herself and her elderly mother by tending sheep. After her mother's death, she is free to marry William.