Beyond Boundaries: Ecological Assemblage in The Country of the Pointed Firs

Abstract

Employing assemblage theory, this article furthers the ecocriticism of Jewett’s works by exploring the complex ecological network of humans, the natural environment, and nonhumans created in The Country of the Pointed Firs. This article argues that the novel dismantles traditional dichotomies, such as culture/nature, self/outer environment, and human/nonhuman, and presents these categories as part of a dynamic, interconnected ecological assemblage. The analysis examines three aspects of the assemblage in the novel: first, the assemblage of nature and culture; second, the assemblage of human and nonhuman; and third, the dynamics, contingencies, and uncertainties of the ecological assemblage. This study concludes that though written at the end of the 19th century, The Country of the Pointed Firs anticipates contemporary ideas of assemblage theory, demonstrating its enduring relevance to contemporary ecocritical discourse.

1. Introduction

American writer Sarah Orne Jewett’s concern about the ecology of New England has made many of her works the focus of ecocriticism in recent decades, especially the short story “A White Heron” (1886), which has become a benchmark of ecocriticism. Acclaimed to be Jewett’s best work, The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) has also garnered some ecocritical attention. Marcia Littenberg appraises Jewett’s important contribution to feminist ecocriticism, arguing that she planted the seeds of early feminist ecocriticism along the mountainous New England coast (Littenberg 1999, p. 138). Sarah Ensor contends that the spinster figures in The Country of the Pointed Firs “might inspire a queer ecocritical practice attentive to affects customarily considered too weak to be socially efficacious” (Ensor 2012, p. 410). Employing assemblage theory, this article furthers the ecocriticism of Jewett’s works by exploring the complex ecological network of humans, the natural environment, and nonhumans created in The Country of the Pointed Firs.

Assemblage theory, mainly originating in the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, offers an apt framework to understand the dynamic, interconnected relationships among heterogeneous elements in a system, including those in ecological systems. An assemblage is not a fixed or static entity but a fluid and evolving network of connections where human, nonhuman, organic, and inorganic actants continually interact and transform one another. This perspective offers a powerful tool for examining the ways in which humans, nature, and nonhumans are entangled in the complex ecological network created in The Country of the Pointed Firs.

By examining The Country of the Pointed Firs through the lens of assemblage theory, this article argues that the novel dismantles traditional dichotomies, such as culture/nature, self/outer environment, and human/nonhuman, presenting these categories as part of a dynamic, interconnected ecological assemblage, which is examined through three aspects: the assemblage of nature and culture, the assemblage of human and nonhuman, and the dynamics, contingencies, and uncertainties of the ecological assemblage.

2. Assemblage of Nature and Culture

The nature/culture binary, which positions nature as separate from and subordinate to culture, has long stood as a fundamental organizing principle in Western thought. In this dichotomy, “culture” is given ontological priority, rendering “nature” as the Other. The two terms are presented as opposites, mutually exclusive, and inherently opposed, perpetuating a divide between humans and the natural world with rigid boundaries that must not be blurred.

Assemblage theory opposes this binary thinking, which Deleuze and Guattari liken to a root–tree (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, p. 5). They view the world as a complex network of interconnected and heterogeneous elements—human and nonhuman, organic and inorganic—that are entangled. Within this framework, nature and culture are not opposing forces or belong to fixed categories but are parts of the same assemblage, influencing and co-constituting one another without clear boundaries or a hierarchy. Additionally, assemblage theory rejects the notion of a central, controlling force or a singular factor dictating a system. Rather, it affirms the multiplicity within an assemblage, where no single element is superior or dominant. Just as the rhizome metaphor represents a non-hierarchical, interconnected structure used by Deleuze and Guattari to replace the root–tree logic of binary thinking, nature and culture form an intertwined network, the individual components of which shape and are shaped by the others.

The entanglement of nature and culture is demonstrated in the fictional world created by Jewett in The Country of the Pointed Firs. In Dunnet Landing, humans and the natural environment are not opposites but integrated into a hybrid space in which the culture/nature dualism is eliminated. This can be seen from the very beginning of the novel, where the narrator describes how the dwellings built by the villagers are unified with the natural environment:

These houses made the most of their seaward view, and there was a gayety and determined floweriness in their bits of garden ground; the small-paned high windows in the peaks of their steep gables were like knowing eyes that watched the harbor and the far sea-line beyond, or looked northward all along the shore and its background of spruces and balsam firs.

(Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 1)

The same is true of other houses in the village. Mrs. Blackett’s residence is built on a small island called Green Island, and the house seems “firm-rooted in the ground, as if they were two-thirds below the surface, like icebergs” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 37). Similarly, the old Bowden house “is integral with the landscape” (Olson 2024, p. 37), standing “low-storied and broad-roofed, in its green fields as if it were a motherly brown hen waiting for the flock that came straying toward it from every direction” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 99). This integration of their houses and the surrounding natural environment exemplifies the villagers’ cognition of the relationship between humans and nature: they believe that humans’ living space should adapt to the natural terrain and integrate with it rather than destroying nature and forcing it to obey human commands.

In an assemblage of nature and culture, nature is not separate from human experience. Instead, nature and culture mutually shape each other’s meaning within an interconnected, hybrid space or, to use Donna Haraway’s term, natureculture, where inanimate objects, far from being passive or background elements, are active and equal actants in the interwoven ecological network. They merge with human experience to create a shared space, fostering relational dynamics between humans and nonhumans that generate agency and shape each other’s identity and experience. The author describes flowers as having “a gayety and determined floweriness” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 1), windows having “knowing eyes” (ibid., p. 1), and ships possessing “distinct and experienced personalities as the men themselves” (ibid., p. 115). These descriptions are not mere metaphors, as Brown argues in his reading of the novel through the lens of thing theory (Brown 2015, p. 372). Instead, the flowers are part of a larger ecological and cultural network, where their presence influences how humans perceive and experience the world around them. Similarly, with their “knowing eyes”, the windows participate in the shared act of observing and understanding the environment, reflecting the relational dynamics between human and nonhuman entities. The ships with “distinct and experienced personalities” are treated as agents co-constituted by their interactions with the sailors on them and the sea. For the narrator, it is precisely because of this natureculture that Dunnett Landing is “more attractive than other maritime villages of eastern Maine” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 1).

Another artificial dichotomy that the novel deconstructs while constructing an ecological assemblage is that of the self and the external natural environment, with Mrs. Almira Todd being the most prominent embodiment of this deconstruction. Mrs. Todd, the pivotal character of the entire novel, inherits from her mother Mrs. Blackett “that highest gift of heaven, a perfect self-forgetfulness” (ibid., p. 46), suggesting the absence in Mrs. Todd’s consciousness of a clear boundary between culture and nature, self and the external natural environment. This self-forgetfulness empowers her to integrate herself into the broader ecological network, which she really enjoys.

Mrs. Todd’s integration into the ecological system is first illustrated in her dwelling, which is seamlessly merged into nature. Mrs. Todd makes her living by treating the villagers with herbs she plants in the garden, such as “balm and sage and borage and mint, wormwood and southernwood” (ibid., p. 3). She is “an ardent lover of herbs, both wild and tame” (ibid., p. 3). More importantly, Mrs. Todd does not build a fence around the garden to separate it from nature so that her garden flows into the vast natural world outside. The houses and flowers built and planted by humans, and the wildflowers, the wilderness, and the sea breeze in nature are integrated into each other, forming a typical space for the assemblage of nature and culture.

In traditional humanism, due to the opposition between culture and nature, people who live in nature for a long time are regarded as barbarians, breeding another opposition between civilization and barbarism. However, these two oppositions do not exist in Mrs. Todd. Though having long lived in symbiosis with the natural environment and nonhumans, Mrs. Todd is not an ignorant barbarian but a medicinal botanist with extensive knowledge of herbology. This brief novel mentions the names of over fifty-one herbal plants. Well-versed in the medical properties of them all, Mrs. Todd is the village’s medical authority. She uses naturally growing plants to make syrups, medicines, and tea for human healing. These plants act directly on humans, showing the mutually influential relationship between nature and culture. Mrs. Todd acts as the medium between the two so that she “erases the division between individual and environment, subject and object” (Brown 2004, p. 116). Such an embodiment is reinforced at the end of the novel, where the narrator sees Mrs. Todd merging with nature and “disappear[ing] behind a cluster of junipers and pointed firs” (Jewett [1896] 2009, pp. 129–30), reinforcing the idea that she is part of a larger, interconnected space of nature and culture.

Mrs. Todd’s integration of nature and culture does not lead to the loss of herself; on the contrary, as a result of her self-forgetfulness, she extends the boundaries of her self to the external natural environment and “reveals the self ennobled and extended rather than threatened as part of the landscape and the ecosystem” (Shepard 1969, p. 2). This elevated self possesses the “pleasure in the confusion of boundaries” (Haraway 2005, p. 158) between culture and nature, as well as between self and the external natural environment and, at the same time, “imbue[s] it with life” (Evernden 1996, p. 101). In The Country of the Pointed Firs, her expanded and ennobled self is most vividly embodied in Mrs. Todd’s divinity. The narrator repeatedly employs images of goddesses in Greek mythology to depict “her cousinship to the ancient deities” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 204), likening her to “Antigone alone on the Theban plain” (ibid., p. 242), suggesting a divine connection to the natural world. These references indicate that Mrs. Todd’s self-forgetfulness does not strip her of self but instead allows her to attain an ever-expanding and ennobled self within the entanglement of nature and culture.

3. Assemblage of Human and Nonhuman

The human/nonhuman binary opposition is another significant dichotomy in traditional Western thought, on which an essentialist view of human identity is grounded. According to this view, humans should be defined by the differences between humans and animals, such as the abilities of upright walking, rational thinking, language, free will, etc., which are not possessed by nonhumans; therefore, humans are a unique and superior life form. In the so-called “Great Chain of Being” in the universe, humans are below God and angels but above animals, plants, and inanimate objects, such as stones and minerals. The definite and strict boundaries between the species in this chain of being shall never be transcended. As a result, “human” is a fixed and closed concept, one that cannot blend with or be defined in relation to lower species.

However, assemblage theory confronts this notion of a closed, hierarchical, and essentialist human. Instead, it treats human identity as open, contingent, and always in becoming. Humans are always connected to and shaped by their environment, the nonhuman world, and their relations with other beings. The concept of becoming is pivotal here: humans are never fully realized, always in a state of transformation and interrelation with their surroundings, including nonhuman elements. Since the 20th century, with the rapid development of science and technology, the becoming of human beings has been brought to life. New life forms, such as humans with transplanted organs, test-tube babies, transsexuals, cloned animals, etc., have become a reality. Concepts such as human cloning, digital virtual people, and xenotransplantation have emerged or are being materialized. The definition of human from the perspective of traditional humanism has become increasingly out-of-date. As illustrated in the metaphor of body without organs, which is “permeated by unformed, unstable matters, by flows in all directions, by free intensities or nomadic singularities, by mad or transitory particles” (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, p. 40), human identity is always in a state of flux, open to new possibilities and transformations.

In The Country of the Pointed Firs, Jewett embodies the fluid human identity and the assemblage of human and nonhuman first through the interspecies metamorphosis narrative, which disintegrates the binary opposition of human/nonhuman. The most typical instance of this is the transformation of the retired Captain Littlepage from a man into a plant and an insect. In Chapter IV, “At the Schoolhouse Window”, the narrator writes that the weather-beaten Captain Littlepage “might have belonged with a simple which grew in a certain slug-haunted corner of the garden”, and he has the bouncing steps of an insect, “like an aged grasshopper of some strange human variety” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 12). From the perspective of assemblage, these descriptions—like the gardens, windows, and boats with human autonomy previously mentioned—are not metaphors but serve to dismantle the fixed definition of humans and reflect fluid life forms and a dynamic, ever-shifting configuration of human and nonhuman life forms.

The assemblage of human and nonhuman is also reflected in the narrative of in-between species in The Country of the Pointed Firs. In Chapter VI, “The Waiting Place”, Captain Littlepage narrates the strange encounter between a sailor named Gaffett and an unknown species near the North Pole. Gaffett sails to “a strange sort of a country ‘way up north beyond the ice’” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 22), “a kind of waiting-place between this world an’ the next” (ibid., p. 24). There, he and his fellow sailors saw “strange folks living in it”, who were “neither living nor dead” but only “shapes”, “gray figures”, and “fog-shaped men” (ibid., p. 23). These fog-shaped men “would make as if they talked together, but there was no sound of voices” (ibid., p. 24). Several scholars have investigated these “human-shaped creatures of fog and cobweb” (ibid., p. 27). Kuiken notes that these interspecies mutations “ought to be recalibrated as literal instantiations of Mrs. Tolland’s Afro-Creole cosmology, which Jewett encounters on her Caribbean cruise in 1896 while still writing Country” (Kuiken 2018, p. 117). Evron, following Ina Ferris, sees these fog-like creatures as representing “remnants”, who “linger on the margins of a new order with which they are either unable or unwilling to engage” (Evron 2019, p. 180). Assemblage thinking can offer a novel perspective into the in-between species. Han situates these fog-shaped creatures within the frame of a planetary assemblage, where they represent the interplay between human, nonhuman, and environmental elements on a global scale. He interprets them as embodiments of “the spatio-temporal entity of planetarity (Han 2024, p. 2), revealing “certain aspects of obstinacy in Jewett’s writings that resist the national narrative” (ibid., p. 1). Unable to determine what species they are, Captain Littlepage alternatively uses words like “shape”, “form”, and “man” to describe them, indicating that these entities resist categorization within the traditional fixed boundaries of human/nonhuman. They are an indeterminate species in between, unrecognizable even to these sailors and captains who have traveled the world. This reveals the fluid boundaries between human and nonhuman, living and nonliving, and materializes the possibility of alternative life forms outside the traditional binary. In doing so, they embody the concept of the assemblage, where identities are in flux and always in the process of becoming.

This intermediate life form can also be found in the literature of Jewett’s time, such as those in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Mesmeric Revelation” and his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, both written a little earlier than The Country of the Pointed Firs. In “Mesmeric Revelation”, Mr. Vankirk, on his deathbed, claims to have perceived “external things directly, without organs” (Poe [1844] 2020, p. 93), and Pym, the narrator of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, mentions that he has once seen “a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow” (Poe [1838] 2004, p. 560).

These three species that fall between human and nonhuman have a shared attribute: all three creatures are found to live in geographical or spiritual realms beyond human knowledge at that time. The fog-shaped creatures seen by Gaffett live around the Arctic area; the shrouded creatures described by Pym inhabit the Antarctic region; and the creatures without organs Mr. Vankirk sees are in a hypnotic state close to unconscious. The three narrators simultaneously use uncertain words to describe these unknown life forms, such as “shape”, “form”, or “things”. In addition, according to Captain Littlepage, these fog-like shapes have their own language and gather for social activities, indicating that they have their own language and social communication, two attributes identified as exclusive to humans in traditional humanism. However, they do not have definite human organs or a unique upright walking posture. Crossing the line between human and nonhuman, these posthuman bodies challenge the captain’s traditional cognition of humans, demonstrate the limitations of the traditional definition of human, and explore the possibility of other life forms outside the human/nonhuman binary.

Such premodern literary narratives of supernatural or interspecies metamorphosis are widely regarded as unscientific and merely optical or psychological illusions. However, from the perspective of assemblage theory, these metamorphosis narratives unshackle the confines of the traditional concept of humans as autonomous subjects independent of the environment and nonhumans and instead highlight the close connection between humans, the environment, and other life forms. As suggested by Clarke, “the forms taken by premodern tales of metamorphosis anticipate and overlap modern and contemporary stories of posthuman transformation” (Clarke 2008, p. 2). These shapes can be said to represent the early literary imagination of the existence of alternative life forms beyond human comprehension at that time. Jewett’s and Poe’s narratives of in-between species deconstruct the human/nonhuman binary and promote the awareness that our own body “is no longer an entity unto itself” but “a site of metamorphosis” (Alaimo 2000, p. 41), shaped by an ever-evolving assemblage between human and nonhuman.

4. Dynamics, Contingencies, and Uncertainties in the Ecological Assemblage

A key concept within assemblage theory, becoming illuminates the continuous processes through which entities interact with one another. As Deleuze and Guattari assert in A Thousand Plateaus, “everything is intertwined within an asymmetrical block of becoming, an instantaneous zigzag” (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, p. 307). In this zigzag-like assemblage, elements do not simply coexist; rather, they are interwoven and in perpetual dynamic interaction, necessarily giving rise to contingencies and uncertainties.

The space of Dunnett Landing created by Jewett exemplifies the becoming of an ecological assemblage. Within the ecological network, humans continue to play an important role, but they are no longer the center. The natural environment and nonhumans are no longer merely the object of human aesthetics, research, conquest, and other activities but rather equal participants and actors in the ecological network of symbiosis, where humans, nonhumans, and the environment are distinct but interconnected and mutually influential. The three do not coexist in harmony at all times. Rather, due to the asymmetrical process of becoming within this assemblage, the ecology in Dunnett Landing is characterized by dynamics, contingencies, and uncertainties.

In Dunnett Landing, the weather, particularly the harsh conditions of the sea, plays a significant role in shaping the lives of the villagers. The volatile weather becomes a defining feature of the village’s existence, creating both contingencies and uncertainties that the residents must constantly adapt to. The unpredictability of the weather is felt deeply in the community’s social fabric. Mrs. Todd recalls how she and her sister are often separated due to the challenges of navigating the rough waters, illustrating how weather conditions could disrupt even personal connections. The weather frequently interferes with essential social gatherings, such as funerals, which serve as valuable opportunities for the isolated community to come together. The sudden outbreak of storms disrupts the continuity of social bonds. For example, Mrs. Blackett postpones her trip to the mainland due to strong winds, underscoring the dynamic relationship between the villagers and their environment. In their daily lives, the villagers are constantly negotiating with nature’s uncertainties. Weather conditions directly affect the fishermen’s ability to work and earn a living, as seen in Mr. Tilley’s remark about a “poor mornin’” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 117) leading to a small catch of fish. This connection between weather and livelihood illuminates the contingent nature of their work, as fishermen cannot predict or control the forces that determine their success.

Faced with these environmental contingencies, the villagers have developed practical knowledge, lived experience, and adaptability, which they have accumulated and cultivated through their existence within the assemblage to navigate these challenges. Their experience, co-produced through generations of inhabiting this dynamic landscape, allows them to predict and prepare for weather events, as demonstrated by Mrs. Todd’s ability to read wind direction, anticipate seasonal changes, and plan accordingly. When social and personal routines are disrupted by the weather, villagers make flexible decisions, such as delaying trips in response to bad conditions. Mrs. Blackett’s choice to defer her journey due to headwinds and the Bowden family’s commitment to gathering despite winter isolation showcase the individual adaptability required to navigate the unpredictable weather of Dunnett Landing. Additionally, the villagers develop specialized skills to cope with the challenges posed by their environment. Mr. Tilley, for instance, adapts his maritime knowledge to his farming practices, buoying rocks in his field, demonstrating a resourcefulness that is fluid and transferable across different domains of life.

The villagers of Dunnet Landing, through their resilience and adaptability, show how deeply they understand their environment and the contingencies of the natural world. They do not merely endure nature’s uncertainties; they actively engage in a dynamic negotiation, continuously adapting to the shifting environment. This process embodies the principle of dynamic equilibrium, a key driver of the ecological assemblage that sustains the village, to which the villagers feel deeply connected. As Mrs. Todd reflects, this ecological network “has always been like home” to her (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 204), and though life on the coast is often shaped by the unpredictable forces of the sea, it is “far better” than life inland, which is “besieged by winter” (Jewett [1896] 2009, p. 95).

5. Conclusions

The short story “The White Heron”, published ten years earlier than The Country of the Pointed Firs, has been considered as the most definite and clear expression of Jewett’s ecological thoughts. However, the analysis of The Country of the Pointed Firs conducted in this article manifests that compared with the ecological thoughts in “The White Heron”, those in The Country of the Pointed Firs are more sophisticated.

In “The White Heron”, Silvia is faced with an either-or situation set by the author, that is, either the nature represented by the white heron or the society represented by the ornithologist, which indicates that the story is still dominated by nature/culture dualism. The communication between Silvia and nature does not mean that she completely integrates into the natural environment but that she only takes care of nature as its master, though this protection is entirely benign.

The Country of the Pointed Firs, however, transcends traditional boundaries and hierarchies, such as those between culture and nature, self and external environment, and human and nonhuman, offering a profound reflection on the interconnectedness of these elements. In doing so, Jewett integrates humans into a broader ecological assemblage where all entities—humans, nature, and nonhumans—are equal participants in an intricate web of interdependence and symbiosis. This assemblage even extends to include entities beyond human recognition, such as the fog-shaped men, emphasizing the fluidity of ecological relationships. However, this integration does not imply a static harmony. Instead, the novel reveals a world where integration and collision are not opposing forces but interconnected processes within a dynamic ecological assemblage. This assemblage, marked by dynamism, contingencies, and uncertainties, prompts the villagers to constantly negotiate their place within it. Thus, within this ever-evolving assemblage, humans, nonhumans, and the natural environment are perpetually becoming. As such, though written at the end of the 19th century, The Country of the Pointed Firs anticipates contemporary ideas of assemblage theory, demonstrating its lasting relevance to contemporary ecocritical discourse.