Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fever 1793, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Independence
Mothers, Daughters, and Familial Love
Disaster and Human Nature
Ingenuity, Ambition, and Survival
Summary
Analysis
Mattie is unprepared for the heartache among the sick. Dying strangers at Bush Hill were sad; a dying mother surrounded by her children leaves Mattie in tears. But Mattie faithfully accompanies Eliza from dawn to dark. The heat and the fever persist, and Philadelphia is awash with rumors. When she hears the rumors, Eliza just shakes her head and tells Mattie they have work to do.
Even though Mattie has endured her own heartache and witnessed many deaths, her relief work exposes her to one tragedy after another. Eliza continues to navigate through the inevitable rumors, which can’t be helped, by focusing on what can.
Themes
One day Eliza is infuriated by the unjust prices charged by Mr. Barrett, the apothecary. She says that pharmacists and coffin makers are the only ones benefiting from the epidemic. They go on to tend to several suffering families. Mattie stays by Eliza’s side all day, prompting Eliza to raise her eyebrow and say, “Never knew you to look for extra work.”
Inevitably, some people attempt to profit off of others’ suffering. Eliza notices the changes in Mattie; whereas Mattie once loved to sleep in and had to be prodded to do her work, now she seeks out opportunities to do more.
Themes
When the two return to the cooperage, eager for supper, they find the house dark and silent. They discover Joseph sitting before the fire with his face in his hands; he’s weeping. The twins are panting on the bed; Nell is feverish, too. Seeing their condition, even Eliza is shaken. Mattie thinks about what to do. Her attention is drawn to the window, and she realizes that the children need fresher air. She tells Eliza, “We’ll take them to the coffeehouse.”
The children finally succumb to the fever, too. This time, even unshakeable Eliza is stunned. But Mattie doesn’t wait for anyone else’s guidance or direction. She recognizes what’s needed and makes a decision, using the one thing she has to her name—the coffeehouse.
Themes
