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
When Mattie and Mother arrive at the Ogilvie mansion, Mattie is gasping for breath because of her tight clothes. As Mother straightens Mattie’s bodice and cleans dirt off her face, she promises they won’t stay long. She tells Mattie that she might become a beauty after all, and that she just wants the best for her. Mattie is surprised by her gentle tone. Mother changes the subject by complaining about her dusty hem, remembering the days when her family rode to tea in a “lovely carriage.”
The day’s high fashion required girls and women to wear tightly structured garments that were likely neither comfortable nor healthy; Mattie’s gasping reaction is realistic, especially given the simpler workday outfits to which she is accustomed. Even though Lucille has succeeded in making an independent life, she feels conflicted as she recalls her more privileged upbringing, when many things came easier.
Themes
A maid lets them in to a gleaming, expensively decorated drawing room that’s almost the size of the coffeehouse. Pernilla Ogilvie “sail[s] across the room like a man-of-war” in her layers of petticoats and greets Lucille effusively. Mother notices Pernilla’s pristine, fashionable gown compared to her own coffee-stained one. Lucille introduces Mattie, whom Pernilla calls “poor little Matilda,” remarking that her father “would have gone far if he had been educated.” Mother grits her teeth.
Though it’s not made explicit, Lucille and Pernilla may have been friends in Lucille’s wealthier youth. The contrast between the two women’s dresses, and Pernilla’s pointed comment about Lucille’s late husband, show how much has changed since then.
Themes
The Ogilvie daughters, Colette and Jeannine, enter the room wearing matching gowns and curled hair. Colette looks pale and exhausted. While Mrs. Ogilvie chats about the girls’ French lessons (the French ambassador is a friend of the family), Mattie struggles to reach the plate of bite-sized cakes without splitting a seam on her tight dress. Jeannine intentionally passes the cakes in the opposite direction.
The Ogilvie daughters, with their coordinated high style and French lessons, live a very different kind of existence than Mattie does. French language and style is all the rage in early America (reflected in Mattie’s own desire to travel to France), spurred in part by France’s support during the American Revolution.
Themes
Mrs. Ogilvie chatters on about the large number of families who are leaving Philadelphia because of the fever—everyone but “shopkeepers and wharf rats.” She goes on to claim that “those filthy refugees and creatures who live in the crowded hovels by the river” are to blame, and it’s a “gross injustice” that their sickness is disrupting her plans for a gala ball. Meanwhile, Jeannine sticks her tongue out at Mattie, and the Ogilvies’ dog nips Mattie’s shoe.
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Mother asks Pernilla if the Ogilvie sons are still in town. Mattie is embarrassed, wondering why her mother doesn’t just hang a sign around her neck that reads, “Available—foul-mouthed daughter.” When the conversation turns to Colette’s recent engagement, Colette just complains of the heat. As Mattie watches Jeannine eat the last cake with deliberate slowness, she hisses “Mother,” thinking that while Mother grew up with carriages and gowns, Mattie didn’t, and she longs to slap Jeannine or shake her dog.
Mattie feels humiliated by the transparency of her mother’s matchmaking efforts. Perhaps Lucille’s lack of subtlety shows how driven she is to secure Mattie’s future—or that she refuses to play by the delicate social rules of the aristocratic circles she’s left behind. All Mattie knows is that her mother can relate to this world, but Mattie can never belong there and she refuses to pretend.
Themes
Lucille presses ahead, asking if any of the Ogilvie sons are interested in business. Mrs. Ogilvie says that “trade” wouldn’t be appropriate for someone of their background. At this, Jeannine flings down her fan and tells her mother to stop being “thick-headed”; Mrs. Cook obviously wants her to consider one of the boys as a match for Mattie, and “their filthy little tavern is part of the deal.” At this, Mattie jumps up, the seams in her dress ripping loudly. When Jeannine continues taunting their “grog shop,” Lucille rises in defense, too.
While Mrs. Ogilvie’s remarks about class difference are an underhanded insult, Jeannine’s outright rudeness shows how indelicate she is. A grog shop is, according to the novel, “where criminals and the other dregs of society gathered to drink whiskey and fight”—a plain affront to the Cooks’ efforts to run a well-respected establishment. This accusation is a bridge too far for both Mattie and Lucille.
Themes
The confrontation is interrupted by Colette getting to her feet, panting heavily, and upsetting the cream pitcher. She whispers, “I’m burning,” before crumpling to the floor in a faint. When Mother feels Colette’s forehead, she says it must be the fever.
Again, the relatively petty concerns of daily life are shockingly disrupted by the fever. Proving wrong Mrs. Ogilvie’s words moments before, the fever clearly affects those of all classes, regardless of its origins.
Themes
