Fever 1793

“When I was eight, she got a letter saying her husband had been killed by a runaway horse. That was her worst day. She didn’t say a word for months. My father had only been dead two years, so Mother knew just what lay in Eliza’s heart. They both supped sorrow with a big spoon, that’s what Mother said. It took years, but the smile slowly returned to Eliza’s face. She didn’t turn sour like Mother did.”

Anderson provides an early introduction to the theme of death and the varieties of human response. Mother and Eliza both suffered the loss of their husbands. In Mother’s case, she loses hopes, “turn[s] sour,” and always expects the worst in a life she believes is full of hardship—an attitude that also “sour[s]” her relationship with Matilda, whom she criticizes harshly. Eliza, on the other hand, regains hope and positivity after tragedy. Throughout the novel, the author examines reactions to loss and sorrow in the context of a great epidemic.

“If I was going to work as hard as a mule, it might as well be for my own benefit. I was going to travel to France and bring back fabric and combs and jewelry that the ladies of Philadelphia would swoon over. And that was just for the dry goods store. I wanted to own an entire city block—a proper restaurant, an apothecary, maybe a school, or a hatter’s shop. Grandfather said I was a Daughter of Liberty, a real American girl. I could steer my own ship. No one would call me little Mattie. They would call me ‘Ma’am.’”

Matilda expresses her desire for independence, an unusual goal for a teenage girl in 1793. Like her new country, America, Matilda wants “Liberty,” and she chafes against being called “little Mattie” by those who still see her as a child. While most young women of the time focused on marriage—and, in fact, Matilda’s mother tries to find a suitable match for her in the first part of the novel—Matilda has almost limitless dreams for her future, none of which involve being under the control of a man. For Matilda, freedom and fulfillment means the ability to “steer [her] own ship,” to choose her own path.

“When Mother allowed herself a still moment by the fire on winter nights, 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. Life was a battle, and Mother a tired and bitter captain. The captain I had to obey.”

Considering the novel is set only a few years after the Revolutionary War, Anderson employs a military motif to describe Mother. Grandfather was an Army captain, and his military outlook rubs off on his granddaughter who views her own life in terms of a military conflict. With her often harsh demands and criticisms, Mother is a “captain” whose authority irritates Matilda. Matilda desires to find freedom and independence—just as her country did in the Revolutionary War. Matilda simultaneously sympathizes, remembering Mother’s kinder side and understanding how life’s “battle[s]” can cause a person to turn “bitter.”

“We did not belong here. I did not belong here. Mother may have grown up with carriages and gowns, but I had not. I had to clasp my hands in my lap to keep from slapping Jeannine or shaking the life out of her mangy dog.”

Matilda and Mother share different upbringings and therefore have different life goals. Matilda would rather live without “carriages and gowns” and experience a freer and more authentic life.

“‘I tell you, William, men who stood unafraid before British cannon run in fear from this foul pestilence. I fear for Philadelphia. I fear for the people. I fear for myself.’”

As the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia begins to cause death and panic, Mr. Carris, one of Grandfather’s acquaintances, provides a powerful foreshadowing of the damage the fever will sow. The yellow fever is a more formidable threat than one posed by other humans, such as the British soldiers. A natural force beyond human control and understanding, the disease can spread faster than humans can possibly stop it. Mr. Carris fears not just for individual victims of the illness, but for the entire city. As Matilda will witness in the remainder of the novel, a disaster on the level of the fever can turn people against each other and threaten society as a whole.

“Tears threatened again. I sniffed and tried to control my face. No one could ever tell what Mother thought or felt by looking at her. This was a useful trait. I needed to learn how to do it. There were so many things she had tried to teach me, but I didn’t listen. I leaned over to kiss her forehead. A tear slipped out before I could stop it.”

Matilda’s tears reveal the depth of her love for her mother, despite the resentment she feels when Mother criticizes her and orders her around, Matilda can’t bear to see her mother weak and in pain. Matilda recognizes she’s not yet mature enough to exercise emotional restraint the way her mother does. Fearing she might lose her mother, Matilda finally values the lessons Mother offered her because she needs this knowledge to become a strong adult.

“I waited for his advice. It did not come. That scared me more than anything. He was waiting for me to decide what to do.

“‘We’ll move camp tomorrow,’ I finally said.

“He nodded. ‘Whatever you say, Captain.’” 

When Grandfather falls ill, Matilda must make decisions for both herself and Grandfather—a prospect that terrifies her. While Matilda yearned to be treated as an adult at the beginning of the novel, now she fears she’s not ready. Matilda steps up to the challenge and decides on the course of action that will best keep her and Grandfather strong. Grandfather acknowledges his granddaughter’s growing maturity, calling her “captain”—a title he previously reserved for himself.

“They told of the dying man who pulled himself to the window of his bedchamber and begged people to bring him a drink of water. Many passed by, hurrying away from the sound of his voice, until a brave soul entered the house to help him.

“They told of thieves who crept in and stole jewelry off the dead and dying.

“They told of good people who refused to take any money for helping strangers, even though they themselves were poor and near destitute.”

When Matilda is in the hospital recovering from yellow fever, she hears stories of people helping others battle the illness, but also of people ignoring others’ suffering in order to save themselves, or worse, using others’ troubles to their own benefit. The disaster caused by the fever forces Matilda to confront the best and worst aspects of human nature and to see beyond her own situation to consider others’ choices and motivation. This broader worldview is an essential step on Matilda’s journey toward a mature, adult outlook on life. Anderson also uses this opportunity to examine human nature on a larger scale. As the novel continues, the contrasting selfish and selfless responses to widespread tragedy become a major theme in the novel.

“‘Have you considered what you might do to help? You have recovered, so you cannot get the fever again. You are young and strong. We have a real need for you.’

“‘How can I help anyone? I’m just a girl.’ As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to pinch myself. The first time anyone treats me like a woman and I respond like an infant.”

Matilda is finally regarded as the adult she longs to be, but despite the confidence she possessed in her daydreams, she doesn’t believe she’s more than a helpless “girl” in real life. Matilda doubts not just herself, but her ability to help others. Matilda eventually finds she will have to help others in order to become, and be treated as, an adult. In this case, the epidemic that causes so many to suffer also contributes to Matilda’s coming of age.

“It was night in the middle of the day. Heat from the brick houses filled the street like a bake oven. Clouds shielded the sun, colors were overshot with gray. No one was about; businesses were closed and houses shuttered. I could hear a woman weeping. Some houses were barred against intruders. Yellow rags fluttered from railings and door knockers—pus yellow, fear yellow—to mark the homes of the sick and the dying.”

When Matilda returns to Philadelphia, she finds it devastated by the yellow fever epidemic. Earlier in the book, yellow was a hopeful color that described the hot-air balloon rising like a sun above the earth. Instead of life-giving, the sun is now blocked, “overshot with gray.” Yellow cloth marks infected homes and symbolizes the death and fear of the fever.

“It could be worse, I thought. The house is still standing. We’re alive. Mother and Eliza must be somewhere safe, I had to believe that. The fever would soon be over, and our lives would return to normal. I just had to stay clever and strong and find something to eat.”

This quote develops two important themes of the novel: Matilda’s journey toward self-reliance and maturity, and the necessity of hope in surviving tragic situations. Matilda previously panics and surrenders to emotion, but here she approaches a difficult situation rationally. Upon arriving home to find Mother and Eliza missing and her house ransacked by thieves, Matilda could have given in to despair, but instead she tells herself to use her wits and strength to survive—and in so doing, she acts like a mature adult rather than a child. Matilda remains hopeful and perseveres in spite of great suffering.

“Dead? Grandfather couldn’t be dead. My grandfather—candy-giving, wood-chopping, tobacco-smelling grandfather. Who carried me through Philadelphia like a princess. Who knew every politician, printer, carpenter, and captain. Who fed stray dogs. Who curbed Mother’s tongue. Who carved me a doll’s cradle. Who dried my tears.

“Dead.” 

Grandfather was a caring, larger-than-life father figure throughout Matilda’s childhood, and losing him marks an important, if painful, step in her path to adulthood. Matilda’s choice to focus on Grandfather’s good qualities, rather than giving up hope, shows her growing maturity and will to survive. Though Grandfather is the only character that does not die directly from the yellow fever, he is attacked and killed by a thief who takes advantage of a lawless, abandoned city. Grandfather’s death symbolizes the destruction triggered by the fever.

“There could be no running from this. Hiding from death was not like hiding from Mother when she wanted me to scrub kettles, or ignoring Silas when he begged for food. I was the only one left.”

Grandfather’s death, a climactic moment in the larger ordeal of the yellow fever epidemic, forces Matilda to grow up much more quickly than she otherwise would. With Mother missing, Matilda not only has to take care of herself at the age of 14, but must also deal with Grandfather’s dead body. Being ill with the yellow fever herself—surrounded by fever victims in the hospital—has already forced Matilda to grapple with the concept of death. As she faces down death on an intimate level with nowhere to run or hide, Matilda is learning that death is inevitable—a lesson that everyone must confront when becoming an adult.

“‘Please, Eliza, don’t make me go. I know you think I’m a child, bigger than Nell, but a baby still, and that I need someone to tell me to wash my face and finish my bread.’ I struggled to control my voice. ‘I’m not. I’m not a little girl. I can take care of myself.’”

Matilda expresses this belief to Eliza, who called her “little Mattie” (12) and treated her like a child earlier in the novel. Now that Matilda has cared for her sick grandfather and handled his burial, and taken a younger girl, Nell, under her care, she has the confidence and strength to take charge of her own welfare. This quotation marks an important turning point in Matilda’s coming of age.

“‘Don’t listen to words of despair, Mattie. You must be strong and have faith.’

“‘When will it end?’

“‘For everything there is a season, remember? When the frost comes, the fever will vanish. We just have to find a way to make it until then.’”

Eliza expresses hope and faith in the midst of an increasingly bleak narrative. Eliza’s advice and Matilda’s own determination to hold on to hope become another layer of Matilda’s coming-of-age journey. The ability to see the positive and believe that things will get better is another way to maintain a mature and self-controlled outlook. Eliza previously treats Matilda like a child, but now Eliza and Matilda are equals working together to “make it” until the fever ends.

“The sights and smells of Eliza’s patients were no worse than Bush Hill, but I was not prepared for the heartache. Walking into the homes of strangers, sitting on their furniture, and drying the tears of their children was harder than cleaning up the sick. A dying woman in a cot surrounded by strangers was sorrowful, but a dying woman surrounded by her children, her handiwork, the home where she worked so hard, left me in tears.”

Matilda confronts the emotional impact of the fever, which destroyed the lives people “worked so hard” for and the families they loved. Previously doubting her ability to help others, Matilda now devotes herself to a physically and emotionally difficult task and does not expect financial compensation. Matilda is inspired by Eliza and fellow members of the Free African Society who work selflessly and with compassion. As Matilda gains both empathy and a stronger work ethic, she comes to appreciate good deeds in times of great hardship.

“My eyes closed. It was never going to stop. We would suffer endlessly, with no time to rest, no time to sleep.”

After caring for three children with yellow fever, Matilda is so physically and emotionally depleted that she believes her suffering will continue without end. Just as she reaches this point, a frost arrives and ends the fever, symbolizing that suffering does not have to be endless.

“I could see that clear January morning, the moment of release when the balloon floated above the rooftops. Thousands of voices cheered and screamed with delight. Nathaniel grasped my hand and we watched as the gold sphere ferried Monsieur Blanchard and his little black dog away on the wind. I thought all things were possible in heaven and on earth that day.”

Before the yellow fever, Matilda believed in limitless possibilities, symbolized by the flying balloon. The epidemic has shown her that disease, and human response to it, can destroy countless lives and opportunities. Matilda’s idealistic past and grim present leads to despair, but she emerges from the fever as a stronger, more hardworking and compassionate person. At the end of the novel, Matilda again believes in possibilities of the future, but she’s gained a more mature and realistic outlook that will help her to achieve her dreams.

“‘If I were you, I’d head down to the market,’ he continued. ‘That’s where all the best gossips in town have gathered.’

“I glanced at Eliza. ‘May I go?’

“‘You don’t need my permission,’ Eliza said.

“She was right. I could choose for myself.”

Throughout the novel, Matilda bristles at orders from authority figures in her life. It isn’t until one of those figures—Eliza—tells Matilda she no longer needs “permission” that the young woman realizes how far she’s come. Because the epidemic forced Matilda to survive without adult guidance, and even to care for adults incapacitated by the disease, her independence increased dramatically in the span of only a few months. Now, Matilda is not only capable of making her own decisions, but of making intelligent and responsible ones. In this quote, Matilda is going to the market to find news of her mother, not simply to avoid chores as she wished to at the beginning of the novel.

“A scullery maid? Ridiculous. I was Matilda Cook, daughter of Lucille, granddaughter of Captain William Farnsworth Cook, of the Pennsylvania Fifth Regiment. I could read, write, and figure numbers faster than most. I was not afraid of hard work.

“I would set my own course.”

In order to proclaim her own mature identity, Matilda draws strength from the family relationships she’s fostered throughout the novel. She takes inspiration from her Army captain grandfather and hardworking mother. Matilda’s dream has remained the same since the start of the novel—to “set [her] own course”—but she now has the self-confidence and work ethic to support her desires.

“With every hour that passed, Philadelphia shed the appearance of a ghost city and looked more and more like the capital of the United States. Like a wilted flower stuck in a bowl of water, it drew strength and blossomed.”

This image is a powerful expression of the hope and rebirth of Philadelphia and the book’s characters. Matilda’s near-death experience with the fever allows her to “blossom”—to find the inner strength and courage to follow her own dreams.

“Everyone thought they knew what was right for me. It was just like listening to Mother and Grandfather making the decisions while I stood to the side. I put down my knife. This would not do. It was time to bring out the plan that had hatched days earlier when I saw my face in the window.”

Matilda recalls seeing her reflection in a window and realizing that in the span of just a few months, she’s come to look like her adult mother, although she’s maintained her own eyes—her independent spirit. During the epidemic, Matilda was forced to make decisions for the first time: how to care for her grandfather, what to do after his death, and how to look after young Nell. Now that the disaster has passed, she will no longer be ordered around like a child. In perhaps the greatest sign of her growth, Matilda is sure of “what [is] right for her”—and that is to take over her family business and run it herself.

“Early morning was the only time I felt as if there were ghosts nearby, memories of the weeks of fear. That’s when I found myself listening for Polly’s giggle or Grandfather’s voice. Sometimes they felt so close. Close enough to tell me I should stop dawdling and get to work.”

On the final page of the novel, Anderson acknowledges all that Matilda has lost during her journey through the epidemic, the “ghosts” that will never leave her—particularly the memories of her grandfather and friend who died from the fever. In a final resolution of the novel’s theme of death and rebirth, Matilda mourns the deaths of those she loved, but rather than allowing sorrow to hold her back, she uses their memories to inspire her to move forward in her own life—in other words, to “get to work.”