Title: Fever 1793
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Scholastic Inc., New York (2000)
Summary:
This historical novel opens with foreshadowing concerning the impending horror. The first sentence, “I woke to the sound of a mosquito whining in my left ear…” sets the stage for the story set in Philadelphia during the early years of the republic. Unbeknownst to the narrator, Matilda, or to the physicians of the time, the carrier of the horrible disease, Yellow Fever, is that annoying mosquito. Matilda, 14 years old, is eager to discard her mother’s advice and “slip free of the ropes that … {hold}me.” Like all adolescents, Matilda struggles with the discrepancy in what she hopes for and what her mother deems proper and appropriate. The reader soon learns that mother has not always been so stern; early in the narrative, Matilda reflects on her mother, “She looked old, much older than she should. She hadn’t always been so……..I could sometimes see the face she wore when Father was alive. Back then Mother smiled at me with her eyes and her laughter and her gentle hands. But no longer………Mother {was}a tired and bitter captain. The captain I had to obey.”
In addition to the story line of Matilda’s struggle with her mother is another strand which describes the family’s
struggle to exist. Mother, Matilda and Grandfather must keep the Cook coffeehouse going in order to sustain a livelihood. Matilda has her own ideas about how to improve the family business. As friends and acquaintances begin to fall victim to the puzzling fever that has invaded the city, Matilda and her family are forced to work longer hours. Housekeepers and friends fall sick and die or must abandon the Cooks in order to attend to their own families. Eventually even the Cook family falls prey to the horrible fever. Like other citizens of Philadelphia, Matilda finally must discard her dreams and struggle just to stay alive. Facing the loss of Grandfather and believing her mother to be dead as well, Matilda struggles to return home and reopen the family business. This “coming of age” story, set in the late 1700s keeps the reader in suspense as the horrible tale of the Fever of 1793 unfolds in all its anguish and gore.
Personal Response:
In her impatience and frustration with the primary adult figure in her life, Matilda reminds me of other adolescent characters such as Gilly in Katherine Patterson’s novel or John in California Blue but this “coming of age” story also gives us insight into the hardships and dangers faced by the average citizen of the young American nation during the late 18th century. I am reminded that even
though modern medicine isn’t perfect, I am lucky to have many and varied medical options while the citizens of 18th century Philadelphia, even congressmen, existed at the whim of communicable diseases, often misdiagnosed and misunderstood by the physicians of the time.
Because I have parented teenagers, I find myself identifying with Matilda’s mother in her frustration over parenting and in her constant fatigue to be all the “persons” she needs to be to keep the home and the family business intact. I chuckle at the Grandfather and his love of retelling his old war stories but I want to “shake” him for allowing his daughter-in-law to shoulder enormous duties while he indulges in a more “carefree” existence.
Evaluation:
Anderson does a superb job of creating real believable characters with whom the reader can identify. We sense Matilda’s frustrations and hopes; we can understand her desire to follow her dreams but we cannot truly understand the horror of the disease which she has to watch devour her community. The accurate details and the accompanying appendix help the reader put this story into the context of the time and place. Clearly this plot could not be duplicated in another time or place. Plot development and character development hinge upon the historical events of the story.
The author’s technique of beginning each chapter with an actual quote from significant persons living in and around
Philadelphia during this time makes the text even more believable. Highly descriptive language adds to reading pleasure and repetitive referral to the unbearable heat and the annoying mosquitoes lends credibility to the story.