| While modern scholarship freely acknowledges the use of alternate systems of communication as language, extensive research of those systems is still much needed. Scholars recognize, for instance, that disenfranchised or subordinated groups often adapt language in such a way as to give words, gestures, or objects an underlying meaning that can only be read by other members of the same disenfranchised group.;Incredibly, 51 separate herbs are mentioned a total of 74 times, inviting serious study into the nature of herbs and their function in Jewett's novel. In the following pages, several key passages are analyzed for messages inherent in both explicit and implicit text. In fact, the surface text is informed and enhanced by the underlying text, creating a dynamic dialogue for readers astute enough to "read" Jewett's dual messages.;The language system in Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs is made up of passages of text underscored by the use of medicinal herbs. Upon close analysis, the traditional medicinal uses of the herbs in Jewett's novel reveal a subtext that is every bit as readable as the words printed on the page and that also work to illuminate the surface text. |
