Alexandra W Assaad

21^st of March 2014

Historical fiction book blog

7-3

 

Anderson, Laurie H. Fever 1793. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2000. Print

Summary:

Matilda Cook known as Mattie a fourteen-year-old girl that lives in Philadelphia. Mattie lives with her grandfather, which used to be a military man and her mother Lucille.  Her house is over a little coffeehouse, which is controlled by a teenage cook called Eliza. One day Eliza was wondering why Polly the servant of the coffeehouse didn’t show up for work, it turned out that she had the yellow fever, and the next day you know it she passes away. The disease yellow fever starts to pass around in the coffee house and the city. Matilda’s mother becomes ill with the yellow fever. For their safety Lucille asks Matilda and her grandfather to move out of the city to not become ill. So Matilda and her grandfather go to another country with another family on a wagon. Sooner or later they notice that the family is ill. Matilda’s grandfather becomes ill and weak not from the fever though, although Matilda gets the yellow fever.  They rush to the hospital and a nurse takes care of Matilda and the grandfather until they are in good shape to leave the hospital. When they are both well enough they are ready to go back to their city, although they found the coffeehouse to be robbed by thieves. After a few nights one of the thieves comes again and starts to attack Matilda, so the grandfather jumps in to help and gets hurt from the robber. Matilda watches him die in front of her eyes. Matilda has been suffering and for a fourteen-year-old girl it is too much to take in. She meets Nell in an orphanage and she decided to take care of her because she lost her mother. Mattie meets Eliza the coke of the coffeehouse and Eliza leads her to her brother’s house so she can take care of Nell there. There were two twin boys the kids of Eliza’s brother Joseph. Nell and the twins become ill with the yellow fever due to Joseph’s house, since it is too hot. So Matilda decides to take them to the coffeehouse and take care of them there. They become better and Matilda and Eliza decide to become business partners for the coffeehouse. Sooner or later Matilda’s mom returns to the town feeling better. Will anyone Matilda loves get the yellow fever? Read the book to find out!

Historical Setting:

The historical setting is in Philadelphia during the year 1793.  It was taking place at the beginning of summer and the weather was so humid and hot. Samuel Breck predicted that four thousand people were going to die from the yellow fever. But more than four thousand died from the yellow fever about five thousand. Twenty thousand people fled from Philadelphia. Yellow fever starts to spread by a bite from a specific type of female mosquito. It causes high fever, bleeding in the skin, cells dyeing in the kidney and liver, and skin a little yellow. It was such a tragedy to loose so many people from this acute spreading yellow fever.

What Is Yellow Fever? . N.p., 17 Dec. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Gum, Samuel A. Philadelphia Under Siege: The Yellow Fever of 1793. N.p., 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Effect of Historical setting:

The historical setting affected the plot because Matilda and most of the characters in the book were feeling very sad and lonely. People have lost a lot of family member and friends. Nell lost her mother because of the yellow fever and was left alone on the streets. If it weren’t for Matilda she would have most probably been sick and roaming around the streets alone. Nell was very sad and so was Matilda it was very hard for them after there loss.

Page: 163 “Her mother was dead, broken in the eyes of tiny Nell”.

Anderson, Laurie H. Fever 1793. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2000. 163-251. Print.

Characters:

Matilda:  she is adventurous and always gets into fights with her mom.

Page: 6 “As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, Mother started her lecture.”

Eliza: She is on of Matilda’s best friends. She cares and helps Matilda with her problems.

Page: 169 “ I cried. I cried a river and poor Eliza did her best to comfort me”

Grandfather: He cares for Matilda and defended her. He sacrificed his life for her

Page: 144 “ Get away from my granddaughter”, “ Grandfather stood in the doorway in his night shirt, his rifle aimed at the heart of the man who had hit me.”

Characterization techniques:

·      The author of my book used Action to show that the mother cares because when the yellow fever started to spread around and the other was sick she started screaming at Matilda to get out of the room, because she didn’t want her daughter to get sick.

Page: 69 “Out, she croaked. Don’t want you sick. Go away!”

Anderson, Laurie H. Fever 1793. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2000. 69. Print

·      He also used another technique, which is Reaction; he showed how Matilda reacted when she watched her grandfather die next to her, which proves she loves him because she was crying.

Page: 147 “I bent down to kiss his forehead. I thought I heard his last words. Love you”.

Anderson, Laurie H. Fever 1793. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2000. 147. Print

Point of view:

The story is told from the first person point of view. We only know about Matilda's thoughts and what she thinks of others. We only know Matilda's perspective and point of view. All we know is Matilda's thoughts and what she thinks about others. The first person point of view is very important and helpful because we learn more about the character, for example " No I could care for myself" It shows how she is independent and wants to be grown up. 

Page:155 

Theme: ·  Death – inevitable or tragedy. The whole story is about how Matilda is dealing with her loved ones dying which is a tragedy. " Dead? grandfather couldn't be dead" This show how her grandfather died. 
page: 147

Anderson, Laurie H. Fever 1793. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2000. 147. Print

Reflection:

This book matters and is important because it teaches us about the yellow fever and shows us how many people suffered when it came to a death or loss. I actually really enjoyed reading this book because I learned about the yellow fever, which I have never heard about, and it was a sad story, I really like sad stories. I would recommend this book to a friend, although it depends what they like if they like sad books than this one is just perfect. This book is important to talk and think about because it teaches us about the history of the yellow fever and at the same time we are reading a story about it. It is also important to know about history, it helps us in the future. I see myself as Eliza because she always helps Matilda when she is in need and I help my friends when they are in need. I would rate this book an 8.5 out of ten.

Vocab:

·      Rouse: woke up, brought out of sleep.

Page: 1

·      Notion: A belief about something specific.

Page: 37

·      Parcel: A collection rapped in a piece of cloth or paper that is ready to be sent.

Page: 75

·      Snippet: A small and clear piece of information.

Page: 111

·      Reviving: To bring something back to life.

Page: 195