Laurie Halse Anderson uses emotions in the passage. She uses emotions by showing that Overwhelmed with the epidemic, responsibilities, death, and many choices. Mattie keeps her head held high and helps as much as she can. Anderson writes, “I ran sobbing to the window, Breathing in the fresh air helped calm my stomach.... I had to help her. She was depending on me (69).” Here, this shows Mattie being faced with a difficult task but
pulling through to help. Some people might interpret this to mean that she could not handle the situation to begin with but clearly she can because at the end she overcame came the fact and went to help.