# Elijah Tilley — The Country of the Pointed Firs character guide

> Elijah Tilley in The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Tilley, Elijah, old Elijah, Lijah

**First appearance:** 0019-xx-along-shore

## Snapshot

A stooping, self-contained fisherman who still keeps his late wife's house in order and speaks of her as if she might come back to fill it.

## Who they are

Elijah Tilley moves among Dunnet Landing's ancient fishermen, men who talk to each other like landmark pines exchanging remarks about the weather. He carries a haddock home for supper and invites the narrator in with a hospitality so quiet it feels like a harbor after a rough coast. His grief for his wife, and the tidy rooms he maintains in her absence, give the novel one of its tenderest studies of loneliness held at bay by habit and small kindnesses.

## In the story

### [XX: Along Shore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xx-along-shore)

An old fisherman who initially seems evasive but becomes friendly; he invites the narrator to his home and speaks of his deceased wife.

### [The Backward View](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xxi-the-backward-view)

The narrator sees Elijah Tilley rowing alone among his lobster traps and waves farewell, receiving a solemn nod.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/characters/elijah_tilley
- 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