# Captain Littlepage — The Country of the Pointed Firs character guide

> Captain Littlepage in The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cap'n Littlepage, V Captain Littlepage

**First appearance:** 0004-v-captain-littlepage

## Snapshot

A retired sea captain who whispers of an uncharted Arctic town where gray figures drift like fog, never quite seen, never quite gone.

## Who they are

Captain Littlepage belongs to Dunnet Landing's oldest generation of mariners, a man whose long years at sea have left him with a story he cannot stop telling. He leans forward and glances over his shoulder before recounting Gaffett's account of a warm current, a crushed ship, and a town of inhabitants who seemed neither living nor dead. His urgency to be believed, and the narrator's quiet willingness to listen, make him an early doorway into the novel's fascination with what lies just past the edge of the charted world.

## In the story

### [At the Schoolhouse Window](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/iv-at-the-schoolhouse-window)

Seen outdoors for the first time, walking with a stick and a peculiar gait; Mrs. Todd treats him as a secret.

### [Captain Littlepage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/v-captain-littlepage)

Visits the schoolhouse, discusses Mrs. Begg's death, and recounts his voyage on the Minerva and his theories about truth.

### [VI: The Waiting Place](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/vi-the-waiting-place)

Narrates his survival after the Minerva wreck and his encounter with Gaffett; becomes excited and animated while telling the story of the ghostly northern land.

### [VII: The Outer Island](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/vii-the-outer-island)

Tells the narrator about the wreck of the Minerva and discusses Mrs. Begg's funeral and the decline of shipping.

### [The Great Expedition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xvi-the-great-expedition)

Seen sitting behind his closed window, watching for someone who never comes, looking patient and isolated.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/characters/captain_littlepage
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/characters