Fever 1793 Summary

Fever 1793 written by Laurie Halse Anderson is “A gripping story about living morally under the shadow of rampant death.” The story shows a part of the world that many of us don’t know what feels like. It draws you into the plot, and makes you contemplate how you would act in the life threatening situation. In the story, a young adult, Mattie, is living through the fever in Philadelphia. With lots of loss, and sorrow Mattie always finds something to look forward too. The book Fever 1793 suggests that there will always be conflict, pain, suffering, and disease in life. If you focus in on the bright side, and put the things that matter, that remind you that there are things in life better than this, you can get through it.

In the beginning of the first few chapters, Mattie was introduced and so were rumours of the fever. Also, Blanchard’s balloon was first mentioned in the story during chapter one. Blanchard’s balloon is a major point and object in the story that Mattie looks too. “I’d float back to sleep, drifting like Blanchard’s giant yellow balloon” (2). The Blanchard’s balloon is a timepiece in history that was intended to “behold you in
One of the workers for the Coffeehouse, Polly, passed away. Mattie, was somewhat close to her. Her Mother, would not let Mattie attend the funeral. This upset Mattie very much but, she remembered “Polly happy, joking, maybe stealing a kiss with Matthew, then bursting through the door to tell me” (15) Mattie would look to happy memories of her and the ones she has lost throughout the story to help her get through it. Not too long after Polly died, Mother became sick. The doctor said that there was “And I assure you, there is no fever in this house” (66). In the end, Mother ended up being misdiagnosed, she had the fever. She sent grandfather and Mattie away to the country so they wouldn't catch