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Chapter 20
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
Tiny Nell’s mother is dead, her body still in the house. Before she quite realizes what she’s doing, Mattie is cradling the little girl. None of the neighbors can take in another child. Someone suggests looking for Reverend Allen’s group—the Free African Society. The Society’s meeting place will be a long walk, but not as far as the orphan house or the coffeehouse. She picks up Nell and starts walking.
Mattie sees Nell as an abandoned, helpless girl much like herself, prompting her to comfort the orphan and help her as best she can under the circumstances. Rather than losing herself in grief, Mattie makes the choice to come to the aid of someone who’s even more vulnerable than she is.
Themes
Eventually, Mattie sees two black women walking ahead of her, ignoring the drunken taunts of some men nearby. The taller of the two women looks familiar. Suddenly Mattie screams, “Eliza!” and starts running, with Nell clinging to her for dear life. One of the drunken men intercepts Mattie, inviting her for a “dance,” but Nell bites the man’s hand, then resumes sucking her thumb. “Glad you’re on my side,” Mattie tells Nell as she keeps running.
Mattie finally has a hope of reconnecting with Eliza and no longer being so alone. The drunken men are a reminder of the unscrupulous people who still lurk in the city, looking to take advantage of the vulnerable. Evidently, even little Nell has a sharp survival instinct in common with Mattie.
Themes
Mattie has lost sight of the two women. Nell is getting heavy. She speaks to a tired-looking woman who’s hanging out her laundry. The woman directs her into a nearby house. Mattie goes inside and talks to a young man who’s desperately fanning his wife. His children are gnawing rolls. The man explains that the rolls were delivered by “Saints. Angels […] from the Free African Society,” and that Mattie’s Eliza might be one of them. Mattie runs back to the street and, thinking of no other solution, cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, “Eliza!” until the name echoes off the buildings. Soon a faint voice responds, and before long, Eliza emerges from a door. Mattie runs into her arms.
Mattie’s pursuit of the women, and the man’s description of them, gives insight into just how greatly the members of the Free African Society were in demand during the epidemic. The members bravely provided food and nursing care to victims all over the city and also cared for the dead, a standout example of compassionate service during the crisis. At last, Mattie finds Eliza and feels the relief of connection with someone who’s like family to her.
Themes
