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Nell
Mother Smith is a very old African American woman who volunteers with the Free African Society. She watches Joseph’s twins while Eliza is nursing fever victims. Though she criticizes Mattie’s housekeeping skills and urges her to surrender Nell to the orphanage, she comes to respect Mattie and encourages Eliza to accept Mattie’s partnership offer.
Mother Smith Quotes in Fever 1793
The Fever 1793 quotes below are all either spoken by Mother Smith or refer to Mother Smith. 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:
).
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:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fever 1793 LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mother Smith Quotes in Fever 1793
The Fever 1793 quotes below are all either spoken by Mother Smith or refer to Mother Smith. 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:
).
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:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
