Perseverance In Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever, 1793

“We were in the center of a dying city.” Thinks Mattie in Fever, 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson, a historical fiction novel. This book is about the yellow fever epidemic of August through November in 1793. The main character, Matilda, overcame many hardships including the pestilence itself. The theme of Fever 1793 is perseverance, because she doesn’t give up even when she is emotional. Secondly, she fights through her hardships. Lastly, she never stopped believing that people she cared about were alive.

The most important reason why the theme of Fever 1793 is perseverance is that she doesn’t give up, even when she is very emotional. In the story, Mattie’s grandfather dies and she helps to take care of Nell and the twins. This shows that she continued to be productive after a very great loss, and cared for others even though she barely had enough to care for herself. Also, when her mother was gone and the fever was ending, she ran the coffeehouse with a little help from Eliza. This also shows that she could help and support herself on her own. Furthermore, she helped others by supporting them, like when she advertised Nathaniel’s work in her coffeehouse. As you can see, the

theme of Fever 1793 is perseverance.

The second reason why the theme of Fever 1793 is never giving up is that she fights through her hardships.

When she had the fever and was dying at Bush Hill, her caretaker said, “Oh, my, now that’s looking much better, isn’t it? You’ve beat the Grim Reaper, you have, lassie.” This states that she recovered from something that killed most others and that she was very strong willed. Likewise, she also defended her house from thieves. “ ‘You cut me,’ he said in disbelief. ‘The wench cut me with the sword.’ ‘Get out of my house, before I cut out your heart.’ I raised the sword and ran at him.” This shows that she was willing to defend herself and others and that she was “...a fighter, no doubt about that.” Strictly speaking, this shows the theme of the novel to be

perseverance.

The third reason that tenacity is the theme of Fever 1793 is that she never stopped believing that people she cared about were alive. Even when her mother was believed to be dead and everyone told her to sell the coffeehouse, she decided to not give up hope and have intestinal fortitude. By way of explanation, she wouldn’t give up and stop waiting for her mother. Also, when her grandfather was gone and she had nowhere to go, she looked for Eliza, even though she could have been dead. This shows that she had hope that Eliza had overcome the pestilence. Third, when she was in a desperate situation she continued to hope and pray that Nathaniel was alive and out of harm's way. This shows that she considered her friends’ health and wanted to make sure they were okay. As this shows, the theme of Fever 1793 is perseverance.

As we have shown you in the paragraphs above, the theme of Fever 1793 is perseverance. This is because she doesn’t give up even when she is emotional, she fights through her hardships, and she never stopped believing that people she cared about were alive. We think people can apply this to their lives and grow into better people because, in Matilda’s case, persevering saved her life.