In Fever Mattie faces a problem after her Grandfather dies. She faced trying to take care of Nell and herself. When Mattie was walking down a street, she saw a little girl in the corner of a doorway crying. Mattie picked up a doll off the floor and asked the little girl if that was her doll. “I held out the doll to her. ‘Is this yours?’ I asked” (Anderson 161). The girl told Mattie that it was broken and that her Mother was broken too. “ ‘Broken,’ she said… ‘Mama’s broken too’ ” (Anderson 162). She then learned that the little girl’s name was Nell. Mattie thought how she couldn 't take care of Nell when she could barely take care of herself.
Mattie asked people around the neighborhood if they knew anything about Nell and if they would care