They are doing alright for the first few nights, but a few nights later, a robbery occurs that takes Mattie’s grandfather’s life away. During that time, Mattie hauls in water from the well, picks and chooses in their rotten garden, and uses what is not stolen in the kitchen for the rest of their meals. Mattie and her grandfather try to strive as long as they can. Their own coffee house is in ruins and Mattie’s mother is not to be found. Houses are desolate and empty bodies pile up in the graveyard. When the travelling pair reaches Philadelphia, they find objects carelessly strewn across the paths. She in time gets better and decides with her grandfather that it is time to head home. He soon recovers and takes care of Mattie. Mattie is fed and cared for the same way as her grandfather.
He starts feeling better, but then she herself catches the fever. She soon gets help for her grandfather from a hospital nearby. In this chapter of her life, Mattie is slowly improving on her attitude and personality. In desperation, Mattie picks berries and fetches water so that she and her weak grandfather can survive until help comes. They try to find their way to a friend’s farm, but her grandfather catches the fever along the way. Mattie is forced to run away with her grandfather in order to prevent herself and her grandfather from catching it. Unfortunately, the disease finds its way to Lucille Cook, Mattie’s mother.
The yellow fever hits Philadelphia with venom and mercilessly takes away numerous lives. This demonstrates how foolish and selfish she is but just in a few weeks her world will change epically for herself and everyone around her. Even so, she never puts her heart into her work. Mattie herself has the easy job as a waitress and usually works much less than her family and slave. Their kind slave, Eliza, works just as relentlessly around the kitchens. Her family usually works relentlessly before, during, and after the shop’s hours. Her family of three consisting of her grandfather, mother, and herself runs a small coffee shop. By the end of the book, she is shown to be a strong young woman. In the beginning, she is portrayed to be a young selfish girl who was always too lazy to work. In Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson, sixteen year old Matilda (or Mattie) Cook changes dramatically over the course of the book.
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