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Descriptive Language In Fever 1793

404 Words2 Pages

Laurie Halse Anderson’s historical fiction novel, Fever 1793, appears in the city of Philadelphia. Matilda Cook, a young girl, lived in a coffeehouse with her widowed mother and grandfather. Soon disease breaks out and clears the streets of Philadelphia. Using descriptive language and inner thoughts Laurie Halse creates a message that when there are hardships in life you change.
In the book , Fever 1793 , by Laurie Halse, the theme of the story appeared to be that when there are hardships in life you change. Before yellow fever took on the lives of the citizens of Philadelphia Mattie, the main character, was naive and reliant on her family but later changed into a more independent being. For instance, when Mattie’s friend Polly died Mother did not want her to go to the funeral. Matilda’s response to this was “She was my friend! You must allow me. Why must you be so horrid?”(16). Rumors of fever were spreaded throughout the city and Mattie was ignorant and was oblivious on getting the fever. Later on in the story she gets yellow fever and it slowly alters her personality. This illustrates that in the beginning Mattie only cared for herself. While some might argue with her caring …show more content…

An example would be when Mattie and grandfather came back to the coffeehouse. “The front room was jumbled. Tables and chairs lay helter-skelter... Broken pottery covered the floor.” (122) (123) Even though Grandfather was ill and the coffeehouse was in a horrible state Mattie still took charge. This shows she has grown more independent and thoughtful. Laurie Halse not only shows the theme with descriptive language but also with inner thoughts. When Mattie found Nell she thought, “ Now what? I couldn’t care for Nell; I could barely care for myself… I had to find someone to care for her.” (163) Knowing that Mattie knew she had to assist Nell even though she could barely care for herself demonstrates her caring nature and

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Summary: Positive And Inspirational Messages In Fever 1793

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laurie halse anderson conveys many positive and inspirational messages in Fever 1793. One theme which one can interpret from fever 1793 is the value of fortitude. It is quite impressive to relize how much pain and suffering young Mattie endured and how, through it all, she persevered and never ever gave

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This illustrates how Mattie feels confident, annoyed, and frustrated, and these feelings lead her to stepping up during tough times and taking charge. Anderson’s amazing story, Fever 1793, shows the theme that stepping up during tough times is important. It is seen how this is possible through the the way the theme impacts the characters and the different author’s craft moves the author

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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).

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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.

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In the story, the yellow fever hits Mattie and her family hard, causing the loss of her grandfather. Although this was very hard for Mattie, she later comes to build up her life and is able to put her dreams into action. She is able to reopen the coffeehouse with Eliza, which was her dream from the beginning. Without the fever hitting Philadelphia, Mattie would have never acquired the amount of independence and responsibility that she needed to run the coffeehouse and fulfill her dreams. For example, the author, Laurie Halse Anderson has Mattie state, “Looking down the peaceful street, it seemed no one could imagine the terror we had all endured. ...

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