Connecting to the Feminine and to the Inner Self in Sarah Orne Jewett\u27s \u3cem\u3eThe Country of the Pointed Firs\u3c/em\u3e.

In Dunnet Landing, Jewett creates a feminine world that is characterized by its depth and its moral and emotional significance. There is a foundation in the real world of human feeling, and while there is much grief and sorrow in this community, there are also possibilities for happiness. The connection to death and loss is what gives much in this feminine world meaning. Grief is only a part of the journey. Out of death and sorrow come strength and a restoration to wholeness. Mrs. Todd has learned this and she passes her knowledge down to the narrator. The narrator’s journey is a return to a simpler, older way of life. It is a return to the mother, but it is also a return to self, an inversion of a trip to the frontier. The narrator’s connection to Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Blackett helps her to reconnect with and restore herself