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Summary
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
Matilda “Mattie” Cook wakes to the sound of a mosquito whining in one ear and her mother, Lucille Cook, “screeching” in the other: “Rouse yourself this instant!” Her mother opens the shutters in Mattie’s small room above the family coffeehouse. She continues shaking Mattie out of bed, saying that Polly, their servant, is late, and there is much work to do.
From the beginning of the novel, Mattie and her mother have a combative relationship, as Mattie likens her mother to the nuisance of a mosquito. Mattie is not very industrious and would much rather sleep than fulfill her obligations to her family.
Themes
Already sweating, Mattie observes that it’s going to be another hot August day. As her mother goes down the stairs, Mattie hears her muttering about how much harder she worked when she was Mattie’s age. Mattie is used to hearing that her mother was “a perfect girl,” “utterly unlike me.”
The oppressive heat, soon to be a significant factor in the plot, hovers over the story from the beginning. Both Mattie and her mother see a strong contrast between their respective characters—Mattie sees herself as unable to live up to her mother’s example and expectations, heightening the tension between them.
Themes
Mattie snuggles into her pillow again, hoping to “float back to sleep, drifting like Blanchard’s giant yellow balloon.” However, when a mosquito bites her on the forehead, she leaps out of bed and cracks her head on the low, sloped ceiling. Grudgingly, she starts getting ready for work.
Mattie fondly remembers the successful sailing of America’s first hot-air balloon, a major Philadelphia event earlier in 1793. However, a mosquito jars her from bed, hinting at the urgency of the mosquito-borne fever to come. The impending disaster won’t let her remain lazy and self-indulgent.
Themes
Mattie picks up a dead mouse that her cat, Silas, has just attacked. When she goes to the window, she brightens at the sights and sounds of Philadelphia’s early morning bustle. She can see the roof of the State House, where Congress meets. On a clear day, she can see the Delaware River waterfront, her favorite place in the city.
In 1793, Philadelphia served as the temporary United States capital, while Washington, D.C., was in the process of construction. The bustle of the populous young city contrasts with the barren conditions it will face after the epidemic takes hold.
Themes
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A few blocks south is the spot where Blanchard had sailed his balloon earlier that year. Someday, Mattie wants to escape like that balloon, “slip free of the ropes that held me.” Nathaniel Benson understands her feelings. Mattie hopes she might see him sketching at the docks later. But for now, she flings the dead mouse into the garden below and hurries downstairs to Mother.
