Yellow Fever Fact SheetInformative fact sheet on yellow fever from the World Health Organization. Matilda began the novel as a dreamer (and just maybe a little bit of a slacker), but by the end, she's realizing her dreams, and doing so with the people around her. Then, after getting the house after Ms. Evas death, Mattie is a fourteen year old girl, who has the responsibilities of an adult, which was expected of people that age in this time period. The outbreak of yellow fever, though, creates a dire situation (not at all related to hormones) in the city she calls home. Why was Mattie's mother so eager to have tea with Mrs. Ogilvie? Set in Philadelphia after the American war for independence, this is a story of a young woman, her mother, grandfather and their closest friends and co-workers trying to survive the Yellow Fever pandemic that swept through the city of brotherly love in the earliest days of American independence. 5. 1. This is Anderson's first historical fiction book which describes the worst epidemic of yellow fever in America. Mattie asks her if she has her mom or dad around. Mattie begrudgingly begins the household chores, only to learn shocking news from her mother: Polly Logan has not arrived because she fell ill with fever, and died suddenly. --Dr. Adam Kuhn, Philadelphia, 1793. Matilda will be coming of age during a crisis situation the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. Throughout the novel, Mattie's sense of social responsibility matures through . The gore and the blood? President Washington Rode through the streets of Philadelphia, she went wild when Mattie and grandfather didn't show up at the farm. Why does Eliza like living in Philadelphia? Mrs. Cook has proved to be a very competent woman even though she grew up in a more privileged family. I know Laurie Halse Anderson for her great contemporary YA novels - "Wintergirls," "Catalyst," "Twisted," and "Speak." Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. Example? The Finch family goes through a rough time dealing with many disapprovements from other people in Maycomb because. She went to the top of the hill and looked for willow trees. For example, she takes little Nell, a small girl who has been orphaned, under her wing. As customers arrive at the coffee house later that day, they gossip about the rising number of fever cases in Philadelphia and speculate about what could be causing them. Chairs was a National Book Award finalist. Mattie is, for the most part, just a normal teenager. In the end, Agent Locke (their trainer) was behind multiple murders. [Mattie] kept his books for him(keeping the books means keeping track of the money) said Mattie when she was explaining why she knew how much money her father had (Portis 15). Little Mattie, indeed. The masses of dead? Because they turned the mansion into a hospital for fever victims. Mattie has regained a measure of family life after the loss of her grandfather and her separation from her mother. she washed dishes, swept, cooked and took care of Nell. While Mrs. Cook has worked hard to build a life for herself and her daughter as a single mother, she is also clearly supported by a close-knit but conventional family structure. This is mainly why Ethan wants to escape the barren and poor neighborhood. Especially as a woman born into the upper-classes, she would not have grown up prepared to work hard and run a business. coffeehouse. Her older brother leaves soon after getting into an intense argument with Pa. She wants to go to New York for college, and write a lot more after receiving news that she has a scholarship at Bernard College. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. Fourteen-year-old Matilda "Mattie" Cook is the teenage protagonist of a young adult novel. The First American Cookbook (1796)Is your mouth watering after reading about the Cook family's cooking? Why does Dr. Mattie was responsible for washing the dishes, hauling water from the well, and watering the garden. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Eliza respects Matties ability to make this decision, offering only her support. Nell was a little girl that had lost her mother and whole rest of her family due to yellow fever. it is the only way to destroy the pestilence. 2. . She has made Nell an official part of her family, and incorporated her sweetheart Nathaniel into her business venture. One quote that fits with Matties dynamic change is on page 133 chapter 18 Mattie said Sprinkled parsley and sweet thyme into the waterWhile the soup cooked, I swept the kitchen floor clean of the broken crockery(Anderson 133). The blood and the gore? Nathaniel asks Mattie to come fishing with him, but the pair is distracted by church bells tolling out the news that more people have died. Mrs. Cook was clearly a strong-willed and free-thinking young woman who followed her heart to marry a man from a very different social class. The genre is known for doling out the social commentary; that is, zombie films often become a way of dramatizing larger fears and anxieties in our culture and commenting upon them. But she cant afford the train ticket and she cant leave her younger sisters alone at the farm. It is strange because she is a young girl in a city alone with nobody to protect her, and her mother has no idea what is going on. Mattie's inability to attend the funeral of her friend shows that the epidemic will totally disrupt normal patterns of life, above and beyond the death it will cause. From Whom? Because it consisted of all different types of money. Next Section Symbols, Allegory and Motifs Previous Section Chapters 19-24 Summary and Analysis Buy Study Guide Cite this page ROD1216. The unusual multigenerational and multiracial family in which Mattie grows up hints at the importance community and interconnected relationships will play throughout the novel. Much like the ladies of Destiny's Child, Matilda is not just a victim of the yellow fever no, she's also "a survivor. She comes to the country with ribbons in her hair and more joy in herself. So she stays and helps, still looking for money to get there, asking her wealthy Aunt Josie to give her money to get to New York, which Aunt Josie flatly denies. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. She dreams of traveling to France and bringing back goods to sell . The Question and Answer section for Fever 1793 is a great GradeSaver, 8 January 2021 Web. She selflessly assumes guardianship of the orphan Nell. Mattie is a seventy-eight year old widow with two middle-aged children. The readers are able to see this when grandfather is left ill and she goes out to look for food. As a teenage girl, Mattie should be spending time exploring her feelings and desires, but she is soon going to be forced into much bigger life-and-death questions. kneeling beside grandfather praying that the morning would not come. Refine any search. When Fever, 1793 begins, fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is a teenager from head to toe. Jean-Pierre Blanchard's Hot Air BalloonThis print commemorates Blanchard's crossing of the English Channel (yes, by balloon!) . Fever 1793 Mattie is the main character in Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. A prolific novelist, Anderson has also published Speak (1999), Catalyst (2002), and Wintergirls (2009). Youd think shed be glad her daughter aint out there prancing around a May Pole getting the new clothes all dirty and sweaty and trying to act like a fairy or a flower or whatever youre supposed to be when you should be trying to be yourself.. (p. 32, lines 182-187), For the happy man prayer is only a jumble of words, until the day when sorrow comes to, 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. Really. Through the Air to Calais or The Wonderful Cruise of Blanchard's Balloon TrailerHave a look at this trailer for a kind of goofy film about Blanchard's 1785 hot air balloon trip across the English Channel. Fever, 1793 asks us to think about how our reactions to large-scale catastrophic events, and the horrors of human suffering, define who we are as a generation, as a country, and as human beings. Grandfather finds a wagon but soon they get kicked off. Matilda has seen and felt terrible things, and she has lived to tell the tale. It all actually happened. All describe Mattie Cook, the main character of Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Captain William Farnsworth Cook (Grandfather). She did regular chores around the house and considered herself an unpaid slave. Shes also not used to being seen as capable in an adults eyes, which throws her off guard. LitCharts Teacher Editions. A series of events happen, which forces her to grow up quickly and go through struggles to keep her . Fever 1793 study guide contains a biography of Laurie Halse Anderson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. She starts out a child in what was then the capitol of the United States and emerges as her tough mother's daughter with a strength she didn't know she had. Mattie experiences both the grief of a shockingly sudden loss and the frustration of not being able to enact rituals that typically help to mitigate grief. Mattie then, after getting up for a second time, decides to clean her face later or, perhaps next December,(3). Matty is bitten by the insect in order to foreshadow later events, for the deadly fever that strikes Philadelphia is spread by mosquito bites. Mattie helps care for Eliza's nephews and Nell. Mattie lives in a room above the family coffee house. I dropped the bucket into the well to fill it with water, then turned the handle to bring it back up again. (including. The Puritans would approve The Naturals due the their pursuit of self reliance, their dedication of hard work, and their law-abiding personalities. Mattie lives in Philadelphia and helps in her mother's coffeehouse. They wanted her to help them with the patients since she was now immune to the fever. Just as they were in the antislavery movement, Pennsylvanias Quakers were disproportionately active in humanitarian efforts like those created by the epidemic. Mattie faces near-death experiences, loved one's deaths, and a lot more . 43 terms. WLX Spanish Greetings & Goodbyes. As the story moves along, this fever begins to create a devastating mess in the city of Philadelphia, They say bodies are piling up like firewood (64). What item does Mattie bury with her grandfather? (23.85). What do the French doctors say about blood letting? Mother cannot come along because she has the fever and no town will let her in. Struggling with distance learning? Matilda hits a number of stages, each important to her developmental arc (um, that means her process of growing up). She doesn't appreciate all of her mother's unceasing hard work, and she resents any restrictions on her freedom. Mattie finds that its very difficult to get the heart and reason to fully align. -Graham S. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Mattie knows that Nell doesnt know what is happening so she takes her. The masses of dead? My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. After walking for awhile under the blazing sun, Mattie comes upon a man hoeing in a field of potatoes . Living alone in a small house, she makes sure that everything is taken care of. Mattie hates this idea; fortunately, her grandfather also objects. In fact, growing up becomes a matter of life and death. As the fever starts taking its toll on Philadelphia, Matilda's life is changed for the worse. Matilda's character development works a little bit differently, though, than other young adult protagonists, because although she's just an ordinary teenager, the circumstances in which she finds herself are extremely out of the ordinary. 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. Really horrible stuff, right? She is a very caring person with many friends and a family that loves her dearly. Mattie is growing older, and becoming more impatient with her mundane life. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. This all bring us to Fever, 1793, a book that we also totally love. In 1793, slavery was still legal in a significant portion of America, and even in places like Philadelphia where slavery was not legal, neighborhoods and businesses were usually quite segregated. FEVER QUESTIONS. At this time in history, this type of marriage would have been very controversial, and Mrs. Cook has paid a steep price because she no longer has contact with her family and has had to live a life of hard work rather than pampered leisure. In Fever Mattie faces a problem after her Grandfather dies. Nenia I yeet my books back and forth Campbell, Scarlett Readz and Runz.Through Novel Time & Distance, The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever the Epidemic that Shaped Our History. because the Dr will bleed them and she thinks it will kill them. Laurie Halse Anderson 's Fever, 1793 is a novel about a fourteen-year-old girl named Matilda "Mattie" Cook who comes of age during the infamous yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. This shows that Eliza acknowledges Matties growth and greater independence, even as she doesnt downplay the difficult odds Mattie and Nell will face either way. Why does Mattie decide to hurry up and take Nell to the orphanage? Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. In what ways are they different? Yellow fever rages throughout the colonies, and nobody can escape it, Mattie Cook faces hardships and worse as the yellow fever attacks her home city and the newly hatched America. 2. Why does Polly Logan often visit the blacksmith's shop? The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Suduiko, Aaron ed. The debate about whether Mattie will go to the countryside reflects her liminal status as an adolescent: she desires independence but her mother still desires to protect her. Needless to say, these experiences cause Matilda intense pain and suffering on a deep and personal level. Mattie took her but surprisingly the orphan house was full. What is the background of Mattie's mother? Anderson's remarkable research skills bring home the magnitude of the situation as each chapter is prefaced with rather moving passages from historical documents from the period: scraps of letters, diaries, and even novels. 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. And then she's completely alone. tops for the boys and a small doll for Nell. Zombie movies give us that awesome scare we crave, and get this: the films are also usually pretty smart. Lee writes her story in the perspective of a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout Finch, during the Great Depression in 1933. However, he. Grandfathers death is when Mattie was faced with the most adversity. What is Mattie relieved to find hidden under the stair? Of course not. This demonstrates that Mattie wants perpetual praise from others, an expectation that children often possess. Mattie begins to see death and suffering on a daily basis. When Mattie was walking down a street, she saw a little girl in the corner of a doorway crying. Between 1790 and 1800, Philadelphia served as the temporary capital of the United States, so at this point in time, President George Washington is living in the city, not far from the coffeehouse. In the beginning of the novel, Mattie feels that she should be praised whenever she does something for someone else. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Matilda Cook, also known as Mattie, is the 14 year old daughter of Lucille Cook, also known as Mother, and the granddaughter of Captain William Farnsworth Cook, also known as Grandfather. In the next few paragraphs, I will tell you why I liked this book. Mattie is the older character in this book that was owned Jesus is Lord Tires and was a character that acted as a mother to multiple characters. When the story starts to pick up Mattie finds herself in a situation causing her to become more like a mother figure. Because of the type of business owned by Mattie's family, they are in a unique position to hear the various competing rumors. this book is one to remember. Even prices higher than any in memory couldn't tempt farmers into the city with fresh food. There is tension between Mattie and her mother because Mrs. Cook often compares her daughter to herself. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Although she always being pestered by her mother, Mattie loves her mother dearly and worries when her mother does not return home after going the the Luddingtons farm. Big enough for mother to grumble about finding me a husband. This happens when she finds Nell and cares for her. Her father was repairing something and he fell of a ladder, broke his neck, and died. New customers have overrun her family's coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie's concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family's small business into a thriving enterprise. Fourteen-year-old Matilda "Mattie" Cook is the teenage protagonist of a young adult novel. She believed young people needed outside air and she did not want her to catch the fever. Mattie will always be a visionary and someone with an adventurous spirit, but by the end of the novel, she has the maturity to use those qualities to make a life for herself and the people she cares about. While Laurie Halse Anderson's thrilling young adult novel may at times have the feel of an apocalyptic zombie movie, the remarkable thing about it is that the events in Fever, 1793 are firmly grounded in historical fact. But just a like a Romero film, Fever, 1793, isn't all horror and gore. It obviously had a significant impact on me because I specifically remembered it even after all these years. Mattie thought how she couldn 't take care of Nell when she could barely take care of herself. Mattie told the sheriff [Iam] looking for the man who shot and killed my father (Poti 59). Polly is late. But wait, here's the kicker: there's the attack on Grandfather by those nasty thieves. Celebrated by librarians, parents, and teenagers alike, the book was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Now, there were conflicts within the story. Why does Mattie go to the market? At the beginning of the novel, Mattie is shown as being immature. Mattie's gumption and drive see her through some horrific experiences, as she becomes an adult and has to survive on her own in the city of brotherly love which loses that appellation fairly quickly as the disease takes hold. Though, Mattie gets through all of this and finds herself in the grace of Ms. Eva who shelters her. Why is Mother angry as she tries to awaken Matilda? Mattie, This is challenging Mattie because she has a choice, act back our keep it inside her and be the more mature one. However, in an atmosphere where no one really has accurate information, rumors and gossip add to a maelstrom of fear and confusion. The move I put off, the harder it will be. (p.182) Mattie ended up taking her along her journey but because of financial reasons Nell needed to go to a orphan house. For example, in the beginning of the book on page 3 it says, I made a face at the doorway. She's just a kid!) What might that mosquito bite foreshadow. What odd ingredient are the people of Philadelphia putting in their bread? 1. Mattie has been so busy that she has not been able to leave the house, but on August 24, her mother reluctantly agrees to send her to the market since groceries need to be purchased for the household.