A Book Review Of Fever 1793 Book

In this historical fiction novel by Laurie Halse Anderson called Fever 1793, Matilda Cook and her few family members that live in Philadelphia, are faced by an epidemic disease called yellow fever. It centers around how Mattie must make due to survive this fatal virus easily contracted by mosquitoes, which at this time period, was not known. By using inner thoughts and description, Anderson constructs a lesson of good things coming out of bad times.

A theme that is able to be pulled out of Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is that good things can prevail from bad times. In Fever, this theme greatly connects to the characters, but most specifically Mattie. Shown in the plot, Mattie, along with everyone else in Philadelphia, did not expect

During the thanksgiving scene in the novel, Mattie begins to take charge. Before the fever, in the beginning of the book, Mattie was a character that did what she is told and did not do anything about it. She was a little bit rebellious with her mother and did not show signs of maturity. Throughout the novel, Mattie learns to grow up and start being more mature. In the face of all the loss and death that comes, she is able to bloom into a better person. The inner thought of Mattie, “Everyone thought they knew what was right for me..this would not do,” shows she is taking charge of her own life and beginning to gain responsibility (223). Even though bad times of yellow fever hurt her, she is able to get something beneficial from it. Anderson uses this inner thought to show the reader that Mattie has learned to stand up for herself and tell people what she believes. In turn, inner thoughts are not the only way Anderson shows how the horrible things in this book result in positive things as well. For example, during the fever the coffeehouse was robbed and abandoned due to people fleeing. It begins to grow empty and desolate, being how no human life habits it. It also somewhat becomes a reminder of Grandfather’s death. Consequently, it ends up turning into a great, up and running coffeehouse again, and Mattie gets to pursue her dream. Anderson uses description and imagery to depict the good that comes out of this. The detailed sentence, “Three days after we opened for business, every chair in the room was filled, the air thick again with arguments, tobacco smoke, and the smell of fresh coffee and cakes...Mother would have been very proud,” shows that the coffeehouse has returned back to its previous state, as it is back in the beginning of Fever 1793 (228). Mattie has grown up and taken over the coffeehouse. This type of business has always