Almost every single day you start a task with the intent to finish it and then you don’t. You may give up because it’s boring, or too time-consuming, sometimes it’s not even your fault, stuff happens. But maybe you give up because it’s too difficult. Yet some characters in the Historical Fiction book Fever 1793, although it was too hard, continued to move forward. The book's protagonist, Matilda “Mattie” Cook, had to survive an epidemic that destroyed her city and life. After the fever broke out and more people fell sick, Mattie had to leave the city to save herself. After falling sick though she went back and waited out the fever until the first frost came, killing it and becoming the salvation everyone needed. Throughout all of this, the …show more content…
Anderson uses Matilda’s loss of people and her determination to keep going to show her overcoming challenges during the yellow fever epidemic. In multiple situations, Matilda was shown being separated from the people she holds closest to her. The most noteworthy of these events was when she had to leave her mother behind in Philadelphia and venture to safer lands and when her grandfather died before her eyes. After her mom falls sick the Doctor advising her confirms that she does, in fact, have yellow fever, and while talking to Mattie’s grandfather says “‘I advise you to send Matilda out of the city at once.’”(pg. 73)Matilda strongly protests this saying that she should either stay behind …show more content…
After she falls sick she almost dies but is saved and then wakes up in a hospital she was brought to. Despite being on the brink of death, Matilda made sure to make it known that she wanted to leave and go back to Philadelphia as soon as possible. Even getting mad at being treated like a child when a clerk suggested she move into an orphan house. After she collapsed out in a forest, Matilda was rescued and brought to a hospital, where she was then greeted by a woman who told her she “‘... beat the Grim Reaper, you have, lassie.’”(pg. 99) as she had barely survived the fever. Almost immediately she expressed concern about where she was and how she wanted to leave. Telling her grandfather “‘We must leave’... ‘We must leave.’” The only reason she backed off was because she was safe and desperately needed rest. Though after she recovered and was ready to leave she was told that she should go to an orphan house where she would be cared for. Outraged by this statement she “squeaked a protest. ‘I am not a child!’’(pg. 111) and was then eventually allowed to go back to Philadelphia with her grandfather. Regardless of the fact she was attacked by the thing responsible for the demise of countless people, Matilda showed not a shred of fear but instead had only one thought in her mind: getting back home. All the time she was recovering Mattie thought only of others and almost never herself, proving
First Matilda’s mom gets the yellow fever so Mattie has to leave so she doesn't get the yellow fever. Matilda and her grandfather got a ride from a very nice family. They were trying to get a ride to a safe farm but then they came to a town and had to get checked for the fever.
Laurie Halse Anderson masterfully tells the of the fictional character Matilda Cook and her family’s struggles through the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. While Matilda and her family are fictional characters, the epidemic which struck Philadelphia was quite real. Based on what I have read so far in the novel, Fever 1793, I believe it is reasonable to infer that Matilda’s mother will die or may even be dead already, but Matilda does not know yet. This will devastate both grandfather and Matilda. Lucille, Matilda’s mother, is the first person of the Cook family to contract yellow fever.
because she does not want her to fall ill to. So later that evening Mattie packed her bags and had to leave with grandfather to the Ludington family to be safe from the fever. When on the carriage they had got stopped to check if anyone had the fever. While checking Grandfather was coughing and doctors said that he had the fever.
Amari tells polly she has never had a white friend , Polly tells Amaris she has never had a black friend. Mattie has a close bond with polly as she used to play with her. This was the first death that Mattie has to deal with
Living in the Frome’s home she had to learn and adapt to a lifestyle she wasn’t custom to. Being that she was impoverished it caused her to behave sometimes inappropriately because she wasn’t used to anything. First, Mattie came to live in Starkfield because she was left with nothing after the death of her parents. Zeena her cousin was the only family member who was willing to take her in.(Shmoop) Mattie’s duty was to take care of Zeena and tend to the
At the time, Mattie was working full time and traveling mostly by foot for several hours to attempt to make ends meet as she didn’t have any connections within the city of Tennessee. Beyond exhausted, when this injury occurred, her first reaction was flight instead of attempting to mend the hole in the wall to prevent any more rats to appear. This is a form of symbolism due to it allowing the reader to realize that a mother’s love is blinding but also to realize that the drive needed to be better - in the sense of to work harder, to only demand the best - comes from mysterious motivating factors. An example of the newfound grit Mattie gained is, “She walked the entire day, and her hand became blistered from the handle of the suitcase” (Naylor 29). This incident can also symbolize that injuries are bound to happen and that one can only do so much to protect those one
As many start thinking that she has died, Mattie believes in her mother’s capability of surviving the fever. After all the people who have died, Mattie knows her mother couldn’t have and would come back and start criticizing her any minute now. By now she has learned to stay positive and think for the well being of others in order to get through all the tragedies. This is a change because it is what will make her happy and overcome the rough obstacles that stand in her way. “’When word gets out that the Cook Coffeehouse is open for business again, you won’t be able to keep tradesmen or customers away’”
Mattie becomes resilient and thrives on her own after Grandfather has been killed. She also winds up taking care for not just herself, but for other children she has found that are in need of someone’s care due to the fact that they are impoverished. In the book, Mattie finds grown potatoes claiming that “Supper was a royal feast of boiled potatoes seasoned with a scrawny turnip and a few beans. But there was enough to ease the ache in our stomachs.”
In the novel, Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson, we follow our main character, Matilda or Mattie Cook, as she grows to maturity throughout the course of the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Mattie is shown as being immature. Infact, one of the first lines in the novel is Mattie’s mother yelling at Mattie to wake up, and that she’s quote, “...sleeping the day way. ”(1). Mattie then, after getting up for a second time, decides to clean her face later or, “...perhaps next December,”(3).
She gets bitten by a venomous snake, and not an older snake but a young, more venomous snake, just her luck, and breaks her arm that would later be amputated, and risks Roosters life to save hers. Compared to Chaney, Mattie lost more than she would never have even thought of. From the start of the novel to the end Mattie’s interpretation of grit is changed. From when she tells her lawyer, “I told lawyer Daggett that Rooster was in no way to blame, and was rather to be praised and commended for his grit. He had certainly saved my life” (218).
In this quote, it says how the mother is pushing Mattie away from her so she doesn’t get the fever. ““Go away!” she repeated . I ran sobbing to the window.”” (P.69)
Matilda must have been in really bad shape. Although to survive is a very eye opening experience. Matilda’s nurse in Bush Hill, Mrs. Flagg. “You’ve beat the Grim Reaper, you have lassie... we weren't sure you’d make it through the night,” (99) Matilda was so sick that doctors didn’t know if she would survive the night.
This shows that by having extra hope and the will to live, she saved the lives of four people, including herself. If the family did what everyone else did, sitting around hoping for a miracle, than they would have ended up dead like
(Pg. 59, 3rd paragraph) Also, she doesn’t give up and overcome obstacles. Even though Alyce runs away because she failed to help Emma Blunt give birth, she regains her confidence when the rich merchant’s wife was laboring at the inn. In the book, it states, “Alyce backed out of the cottage, then turned and ran up the path to the road, she didn’t know why or where. Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure.