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 awakened from her garden nap by Silas the cat slapping her cheek and kneading her stomach with his paws. When she opens her eyes, Mattie sees that “an early winter quill had etched an icy pattern over the garden.” She is shivering, and not from a fever. It’s frost. She tells Silas she must be dreaming, but as she inhales the brittle air and sees the sparkling yard, she realizes it’s real. She calls for Eliza, who stumbles into the yard in alarm. When Eliza realizes what’s happened, they jump up and down for joy. Their fatigue vanished, Mattie and Eliza haul the mattress with the children outside so that they can cool down in the frosty air.
Mattie awakens to a different world—the longed-for frost has arrived. It’s suitably foreign- and beautiful-looking after the relentlessly hot summer—a dream come true and an unmistakable sign of real hope. They can truly celebrate for the first time since the epidemic began.
Themes
At midday, Joseph sends a messenger bearing food, including eggs, bread, and beef. Farmers are already returning to the city market. Mattie and Eliza slowly savor the food. Later, Mattie is awakened from a nap to find Eliza pushing furniture outside. It’s likely to frost again tonight, and she wants to expose all the furniture to the cold to destroy the pestilence. Mattie thinks it’s silly, but she helps Eliza. The children’s fevers have broken, and they sleep and eat readily.
Life rapidly begins to regain some normalcy, with ample food, the possibility of sleep, and a turning-point for the sick children. While Eliza’s treatment of the furniture is probably unnecessary, it certainly won’t hurt, and it further shows what a critical, life-saving development the frost is.
Themes
The next morning Joseph visits. He immediately embraces all three children, and Mattie and Eliza weep. Joseph brings handmade toys for each child. He thanks Eliza and Mattie for saving his boys. The three sit contentedly on the porch drinking cider. Joseph suggests that Mattie search for news of her mother in the reopened market. Mattie asks Eliza for permission, and Eliza reminds her that she doesn’t need it. Mattie can choose for herself.
Happy reunions continue. Mattie is now free to turn her thoughts to her mother’s welfare—and she also realizes that she’s mature enough to make her own decisions about that. After the maturing experiences of the last few months, she no longer has to come and go on other people’s orders.
Themes
The market is overflowing with news and cheer. Mattie wanders to the Eplers’ stall, and they give her two fat hens and some eggs for free, promising to ask around for news of Lucille. Mattie also buys produce and candy and continues to wander, wondering what she should do next. If it turns out that Mother is dead, she’ll have to sell the coffeehouse and become a scullery maid.
Now that life is returning to normal, Mattie is free to think about possibilities for the future. Whereas she’d once thought of independence as unfettered freedom, like a sailing balloon, now she realizes that it comes with heavy burdens.
Themes
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Mattie happens to catch her reflection in the haberdasher’s window, and when she looks into her own eyes, she suddenly changes her mind: “I was Matilda Cook, daughter of Lucille, granddaughter of Captain William Farnsworth Cook […] I would set my own course.”
Seeing her reflection turns Mattie’s thoughts to her own identity and abilities. Significantly, she no longer thinks of herself as disconnected from her loved ones; rather, her self-image and future hopes are tied up with those who’ve helped make her who she is. The crisis has helped her see this.
Themes
Someone touches Mattie’s elbow, and her heart jumps. It’s Nathaniel. Mattie blushes and tries to collect her thoughts. Nathaniel offers to walk her home. Mattie’s self-consciousness fades as they walk and talk. Nathaniel survived the epidemic by staying quarantined in Mr. Peale’s house. They talk about how everything seems to have changed. Nathaniel jokes that Mattie’s mother will be home soon and will try to marry Mattie off to a lawyer. Mattie says she won’t let her.
Mattie and Nathaniel reconnect at last. Mattie now has greater confidence as they talk, and she’s also confident that if Lucille were to object to them as a couple, Mattie would be capable of asserting herself.
Themes
