I’d like to respond to both Erin and Kim’s Country of Pointed Firs responses. Erin’s response brought up the issue of the confusion surrounding the narrator’s gender, which I too had trouble discerning at first. I don’t know why, but I automatically assumed when I began that ‘she’ was in fact a ‘he’. There was no real outward indication, and it was perhaps the initial distant relationship depicted between Mrs. Todd and the narrator and the fact that I neglected to read the back cover that made me believe this, but once a gown was mentioned I was convinced that I had been wrong. Kim’s response touches upon the domestic responsibilities that Elijah had to take on once his wife died, and the fact that he experienced somewhat of a gender swap. She describes him as vulnerable, and points out that he is noted as being a “very good housekeeper” by other members of the Dunnet community. Both of these responses led me to ponder whether or not an ambiguity of gender roles is something that Sarah Orne Jewett meant convey throughout the book, or if it is just coincidence. From this evidence, and subtle clues throughout the text, I would argue for the former.