Theme Of Transformation In Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793

Laurie Halse Anderson’s historical fiction novel, Fever 1793, takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mattie is the main character of the book. In the beginning of the book, she only thinks about herself and not about others. In the middle of the book, something tragic happens, and she has to learn to cope and mature throughout the rest of the book. By using descriptive words, and repetition, the author creates a lesson that when people mature, they learn to appreciate what they have, rather then be greedy. The theme of Fever 1793 is becoming mature not only includes making “adult” decisions, but also appreciating what you have and stepping up. In the story after Mattie loses her grandfather, they have a funeral, or a burial speaking and she demands that they all say a prayer first. Also, she spoke about
She also writes, “I swallowed, cleared my throat... I stood straight and tall” (154). This is showing that she is stepping up and she is maturing. Speaking at a funeral when you are any age is hard, Mattie is thirteen years old and is speaking at his funeral, that takes a considerable amount of maturity and strength to do. One last quote that the author states that supports the theme of maturity is, “At the end of the reading, some crossed themselves, others wiped their eyes” (154). Another section in the story that supports the theme is when Mattie makes the “adult” decision to give Nell to the orphanage. She did a lot of thinking and came to the conclusion that it would be best for all of them if Nell went to the orphanage. Certainly it could be said that Mattie is not growing more mature, and Eliza made that decision - to take Nell to the Orphanage - for her. While this is a good point, it fails to account for the fact that this maturity has been progressing throughout the whole story. After Yellow Fever hit, Mattie suddenly had to take charge of her own responsibilities, and became more mature and