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Mattie In Fever 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson

Decent Essays

Fever 1793
Mattie is the main character in Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. In the beginning of the book Polly the serving girl dies of an unknown plague leaving Philadelphia in shock. As grandfather and Mattie return to the coffeehouse they find Mother lying ill with the yellow fever. Later on Mattie and grandfather leave the coffeehouse as an order from Mother but soon return after they both are kicked out the wagon and they fall ill with the yellow fever causing many deaths. As the days come to an end Mattie is left alone to care for herself after grandfather passes. Mattie is a dynamic character in Fever 1793 after being faced with many challenges the epidemic brought her. Throughout the story Mattie become more independent, mature, …show more content…

When reading the first chapters of the story Mattie relies on everyone but herself. She only wakes up to the sound of Mother yelling at her.Throughout the first few chapters she refuses to do most things around the coffeehouse even though she saids she would like to be treated more like an adult. On page 8 chapter 2, Mattie said “ She set a stack of coffee beans on the table...I’m starving I said clutching my stomach...As usual she said with a smile... Let me get you something quick”(Anderson 8). As the reader can see at the time Mattie isn’t capable nor willing to care for herself, she expects other people to do that for her. As the book continues Mattie changes dramatically into an independent person. The readers are able to see this when grandfather is left ill and she goes out to look for food. In addition the fever epidemic has caused great discouragement to Mattie as grandfather and her return to the coffeehouse and Mattie sees the coffeehouse a mess after they have been robbed. One quote that fits with Matties dynamic change is on page 133 chapter 18 Mattie said “ Sprinkled parsley and sweet thyme into the water...While the soup cooked, I swept the kitchen floor clean of the broken crockery”(Anderson 133). On the other hand the things that happened throughout the fever epidemic have caused her to take better care of her and grandfather after all their food had been stolen. Mattie’s dramatic changes causes her to realize …show more content…

In the beginning of the book Mattie is always being told what to do, when to wake up, how to do her chores, etc. This causes her to be unreliable as well as immature when she takes her anger out on her cat Silas. Mattie also tended to mumble things under her breath. This demonstrates to the reader that Mattie isn’t good with handling her problems. In the book on page 53 chapter 17 it saids “ I stood so quickly that the seams under my arms ripped open with a snarl...It’s not a tavern, it’s a coffeehouse”(Anderson 17). To sum up the quote Mattie gets offended and deals with it in an immature way, which leads to her standing up and yelling across the table. When the story starts to pick up Mattie finds herself in a situation causing her to become more like a mother figure. This happens when she finds Nell and cares for her. When Mattie finds Nell, Nell is in a house alone as her mother lays dead on the bed. Mattie knows that Nell doesn’t know what is happening so she takes her. Mattie even said that they need each other causing Mattie to mature in a situation like that. On page 179 chapter 23 it saids “ Nell climbed in my lap and fell asleep sucking her thumb...I worked the knots out of her hair slowly and gently”(Anderson 179). This quote has changed Mattie to being the character she was in the story. Mattie somewhat adopted Nell into her family as she has matured

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