Summary Of Fever 1793

Being in a pandemic is scary. It’s not something you’d ever wish on your worst enemy. You never know where your next meal will come from, or what you’d have to do to get it, or if it’ll ever come at all. There are robbers everywhere, taking advantage of this awful situation and being selfish. You can’t trust anyone anymore, let alone make new friends. Families are turning their backs on one another. They will even throw their own flesh and blood out of a two story window if it means saving themselves. In Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Mattie Cook lives above her family’s coffeehouse with her widowed mother and grandfather, and also her cat Silas. She dreads doing chores and is constantly making plans to expand her family business,
After mother had been diagnosed with Yellow Fever by Dr. Kerr, he advises grandfather to send Mattie “out of the city at once” (73). “The farmer yelled, “Giyup!” and cracked the whip across the back of the horse” (77). So off Grandfather and Mattie went to the countryside. They were stopped by “four horsemen armed with muskets”(80). “Don’t be afraid, we mean you no harm… You’re entering Pembroke. Planning on staying here?” The farmer that was driving the wagon explained to the four horsemen that they we were just passing through” (81). “I have to ask you to step down so our doctor here can have a look at you. If you aren’t sick, you can pass through town. If you are, you’ll have turnaround” (81). Mattie wakes up Grandfather so the doctor can have a look at him. When the doctor came to examine grandfather the doctor had said, “take this man back to the city. He is infected with disease” (83). Mattie and Grandfather begin their journey by walking back home to the coffeehouse. Grandfather worsened and they had to camp outside because he was too weak to walk. Mattie went out to use what grandfather taught her to find food to eat. While looking for supper, Mattie hallucinates and passes out. She wakes up at Bush Hill hospital and learns that she has Yellow Fever, a few days later she overcomes the fever and is healthy. Mattie leaves Bush Hill and returns to the city. The
In this story, Mattie goes from needing her mother the most, to basically being the mother of others to care for. Mattie gets caught up in her own world like a normal teenager does. Mother returns at last, and she’s not the same anymore. She’s very still and quiet, and that’s not like her. Instead of Mattie being the one that sleeps the day away, it’s mother that is and Mattie knew what was coming. It was time for her to become the responsible adult for her family. The coffeehouse. And especially her mother. Throughout the story. The author shows us that being negative, will only make a difficult journey more