Fever 1793

by

Laurie Halse Anderson

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Fever 1793 makes teaching easy.
Nell is an abandoned orphan girl, no more than a toddler, whom Mattie finds and keeps during the epidemic. Nell quickly bonds with Mattie. Though Mother Smith urges Mattie to take Nell to the orphan house, Mattie decides to keep her. Nell comes to live at the reopened coffeehouse with Mattie, Mother, and Eliza’s family.

Nell Quotes in Fever 1793

The Fever 1793 quotes below are all either spoken by Nell or refer to Nell. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Freedom and Independence Theme Icon
).
Chapter 23 Quotes

“Don’t love her,” warned Mother Smith.

“Pardon me?”

“I said, don’t you fall in love with that baby girl. She’s not yours. You can’t keep her. You had any sense, you’d take her right down to the orphan house tomorrow and hand her over. Don’t look back […] She stays with you, you feed her, wash her, sing to her, mother her, then give her away. How’s that going to make her feel? You’re the cruel one.”

Related Characters: Matilda “Mattie” Cook (speaker), Mother Smith (speaker), Nell
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fever 1793 LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fever 1793 PDF

Nell Quotes in Fever 1793

The Fever 1793 quotes below are all either spoken by Nell or refer to Nell. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Freedom and Independence Theme Icon
).
Chapter 23 Quotes

“Don’t love her,” warned Mother Smith.

“Pardon me?”

“I said, don’t you fall in love with that baby girl. She’s not yours. You can’t keep her. You had any sense, you’d take her right down to the orphan house tomorrow and hand her over. Don’t look back […] She stays with you, you feed her, wash her, sing to her, mother her, then give her away. How’s that going to make her feel? You’re the cruel one.”

Related Characters: Matilda “Mattie” Cook (speaker), Mother Smith (speaker), Nell
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis: