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Chapter 7
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
After Colette Ogilvie’s collapse, the atmosphere in Philadelphia changes: the bells toll without stopping, a cannon is blasted to purify the air, and mosquitoes buzz constantly. Business declines at the coffeehouse because many wealthier families are fleeing to the country. Everyone is worried and grumpy, even Eliza, who muses that there are ugly days ahead. Grandfather, on the other hand, thinks that people just lack gumption these days. Eliza heads to a meeting of the Free African Society while Mattie and Grandfather run errands.
The fever begins to impact people’s daily lives to a more noticeable degree—the signs and effects of disease are now impossible to ignore. Still underestimating the situation, Grandfather maintains that people are simply weaker than in his day. The Free African Society was a benevolent organization run by and for Philadelphia’s freed slaves; its activities will feature later in the story.
Themes
Grandfather and Mattie go to Andrew Brown’s print shop. Grandfather complains to Mr. Brown that he “didn’t run from the redcoats, and […] won’t run from a dockside miasma.” Mr. Carris is also there, and he warns that caution is warranted. He reads a list of advice from the College of Physicians, advising the populace to avoid the sick, to mark the homes of the sick, to bury the dead, and to keep clean, among other things. The bell tolling must also stop.
Grandfather, nostalgic for the hardships of his soldier days, continues to downplay the severity of the outbreak. However, specific recommendations are being circulated to the public to limit the spread of the disease.
Themes
They’ve heard that several hundred have died of the fever, and that a thousand might die by the end. Even Grandfather pauses at this number, but he says he doesn’t believe this exaggeration. Even Jefferson and Washington are expected to leave town soon, Mr. Carris points out. Mattie counts out the days until the October frosts, which always kill the fever. She figures that even working on the pig farm of their family friends, the Ludingtons, would be better than the fever.
Though Grandfather continues to question the projected numbers, these estimates actually fall far short of the ultimate fatalities: closer to 5,000 are believed to have died. The exodus of government leaders would have been a further blow to the city’s morale.
Themes
As Grandfather and Mattie walk home from the print shop, they follow a limping man in rags who’s pushing a cart. A limp arm flops over the side. Grandfather calls to the man that this is no place for the dead. Suddenly Mattie runs ahead, her eyes filling with tears. The man turns and looks at them, then dumps a body out of his wheelbarrow onto the street. “Mother!” Mattie screams.
The presence of the disease in their part of the city demonstrates that the epidemic has now spread well beyond the waterfront distinct. Grandfather is still of the mindset that they can remain untouched by it. But when Mattie recognizes the arm dangling from the cart, the proximity of the disease is brought home to them both in a visceral way.
Themes
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