ipl-logo

Description And Imagery In Laurie Anderson's Fever 1793

682 Words3 Pages

Laurie Anderson’s historical fiction book, Fever 1793, takes place in Philadelphia during the 1700s. This book mentions about a girl and her family living during the Yellow Fever epidemic. Throughout the story Mattie loses and gains family members while they are trying to protect her. Mattie goes through one of the worst epidemics in the history of Philadelphia, and her family tries to take care of her during it. Anderson uses description and imagery in the story to portray the theme, family is always trying to protect each other.
In Fever 1793, Mattie’s family is always trying to do the best for her. For instance, she is always grasping for her family to stay with her. While her mother was sick she did not want to leave her side. Then …show more content…

For instance, the sentence, “No kin of mine goes to an orphan house, not as long as I have breath in my body”(111). Grandfather’s words mention keeping Mattie with him through the epidemic. Grandfather is talking about how he will take care of Mattie until he dies no matter what situations occur. This connects to the idea of family doing anything to protect each other because Grandfather is risking certain privileges to protect Mattie. The dialogue helps the reader understand the theme because it shows the character's perspective in the novel. Another way the author shows the lesson is using description. For example, “Get away from my granddaughter! Grandfather stood in the doorway in his nightshirt, his rifle aimed at the heart of the man who hit me”(144). This is significant because the author is describing the event of Grandfather trying to protect Mattie. Describing the event allowed the theme to be more visible to the reader because of extra details. The theme of family trying to always help each other is seen in this quote because Grandfather did not mention his well-being, and only wanted Mattie to be safe. On the other hand, if there was not as much description it would be more difficult to see why Grandfather did his actions, and what the theme is. Overall, Laurie Anderson uses two methods to show the theme: description and dialogue. These two methods help the reader to

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Mattie From The Book Fever By Laurie Halse Anderson

    358 Words  | 2 Pages

    First Matilda’s mom gets the yellow fever so Mattie has to leave so she doesn't get the yellow fever. Matilda and her grandfather got a ride from a very nice family. They were trying to get a ride to a safe farm but then they came to a town and had to get checked for the fever.

    Read More

  • Book Review Of The Fever By Abigail Zuger

    590 Words  | 3 Pages

    Two writers wrote reviews of the 2010 book, The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years, by Sonia Shah. Each reviewer wrote quite differently and in fact had dissimilar opinions on the book. Though they may be quite different from one another, they both contain powerful rhetoric. The review written by Abigail Zuger begins with multiple rhetorical questions to draw the audience into her review and so that they will become interested and read the entire review.

    Read More

  • Yellow Fever Dialectical Journal

    187 Words  | 1 Pages

    The second part of the novel was intriguing to me because the book explained how the patients were diagnosed. Usually when the doctor came to the patient's home, after a few checks, they would diagnose the patient had yellow fever although they only had a minor summer grippe of a type of fever. This was mainly shown when a doctor came to diagnose Lucille and immediately said she had yellow fever. The main reason this was done was because the doctors thought that disease was spread through smell or by refugees who lived by the river instead of understanding that the disease was spread by mosquitoes. The main characters in this part of the novel were Mrs. Flagg, Dr. Deveze, Grandpa, and Matilda.

    Read More

  • The All Too Human Gods Analysis

    486 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme in this expository piece is that no one is perfect. The tone in this expository piece affects the theme because it shows the author's purpose, demonstrates the author’s attitude, and helps us understand the mood of the story.

    Read More

  • The Glass Castle Theme Essay

    675 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme is developed by how Jeannette learns how to take care of herself and her younger siblings, and the way her parent taught her. Jeannette have a very tough childhood where she have to go up quickly,so that she can work to make money. This way she won’t starve and feel the chill of winter, where there’s no heat in the house. She can also break ties with the move and rent new house to find new money sources because her dad can’t hold a job for a long

    Read More

  • Literary Techniques Used In Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    Laurie Halse Anderson’s historical fiction story Fever 1793 takes place during the summer of 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the beginning of the yellow fever epidemic but everything is normal for Matilda Cook until her mother gets the fever. The mother and daughter are separated and Matilda must get through many challenges and losses to survive the fever. Anderson uses figurative language and emotions/feelings to show a lesson about caring for others times of need.

    Read More

  • Charles By Shirley Jackson Foreshadowing Essay

    508 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author uses words choice and foreshadowing to show the lesson. “...”Look up,” he said to his father. “What?” his Father said, looking up. “Look down” Laurie said. “Look at my thumb, gee you’re dumb.”

    Read More

  • Characterization In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

    418 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many ways an author can convey the message of any story. Elements such as the Plot, Conflict, Character/Characterization, Setting, Symbolism, Narration, and Imagery are used in these ways. For example, in the In the story "Harrison Bergeron", the author Kurt Vonnegut uses the characterization, and the conflict to communicate the message to the reader that Uniformity and strict laws lead to a loss of personal freedom and individuality. Vonnegut uses the element of characterization.

    Read More

  • The Character Of Matilda Cook In Fever 1793

    578 Words  | 3 Pages

    When yellow fever strikes Philadelphia, where Mattie lives, she is forced to change her ways. In order to survive, Mattie must become resourceful and responsible. Throughout her journey, she catches the fever, helps an orphaned girl, uses her house to save lives, and starts up her coffeehouse again after it was shut down. The yellow fever epidemic of 1793 changed Matilda Cook from an unproductive teenager to a responsible young adult.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Bravery In Fever 1793

    368 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fever 1793 In difficult circumstances people show bravery that they thought they did not have. In fever 1793, characters experience a great deal of loss. For example Nell losing her family, or Mattie losing her grandfather. Even though these bad circumstances have been occurring, characters are getting brave.

    Read More

  • Rot And Ruin Character Analysis

    800 Words  | 4 Pages

    Another example of the theme from the book is “Sorry, Benny- I forgot. Point is, you got family of some kind, right?” This example shows that you will always have some type of family, even if you don’t know it. If you don’t have family, you will struggle in life.

    Read More

  • Out Of The Dust Theme Essay

    643 Words  | 3 Pages

    Characters Help Establish a Theme Characters are used to help develop a theme and create a more relatable story. In the book, “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse, Billie Jo and her father stay strong through the dust bowl and the death of their family members. Billie Jo and daddy, from “Out of the Dust”, helped to develop the theme that when you’re at the end of the rope, tie a knot and hold on because of how they persevere through their hardships. Daddy shows persistence in how he never lets his sadness overcome him. First, even though his wife was gone, he never stopped digging the pond.

    Read More

  • Night He D Reach Out To Touch The Boy Sleeping Theme

    247 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first main theme in this novel is the paternal love that the man has for the boy. This theme shows in many different examples. “And the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping" (1). This shows the paternal love in the book because the dad is worried about the child throughout the whole book. Some examples of the man showing love for the boy are so deep the at one point the man gives the boy most of the food out of the small amount that they do have.

    Read More

  • Characterization In The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

    961 Words  | 4 Pages

    The theme is the overall meaning of the story. We can see this when Connell writes, “Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters”. Then later on in the short story the main character has to adapt

    Read More

  • The Messenger Theme

    641 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story demonstrates this theme when Matty would be the only one to deliver messages to and from the village and the forest. The first theme

    Read More

More about Description And Imagery In Laurie Anderson's Fever 1793

Open Document