Time Period

   After reading the book 'Fever, 1793' by Laurie Halse Anderson and 'The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, the Life Cycle of an Eighteenth Century Woman', which was originally written by Elizabeth Drinker, I can conclude that the author of 'Fever, 1793' has indeed done a very good job crafting her story. But is it accurate to this time period?
   In Mrs. Drinker's dairy (look to the right), the journal states that she has lived through two great travesties; the Revolutionary War and the dreaded yellow fever epidemic of 1793. Obviously, you can see upon which event Anderson based her novel, but the historic separation of America from England is also mentioned several times.
   The book 'Fever, 1793' is about a 16-year-old named Mattie Cook and her small family. They run a small coffee shop that Mattie's father had wanted to run when he bought it, but he died before his time. The first chapter or so of the book displays the family's average, everyday do-goings in 1793, showing what their lives must have been like. Then the fever hit. It starts when Mattie's close friend dies unexpectedly. Rumors fly throughout the town. Then Mattie's mother becomes terribly ill and is diagnosed with the yellow fever. Fearing for her family, Mattie's mother sends Mattie and her grandfather away for their own safety. Around halfway through the journey, the family the two were riding away from town with kicked them out of their wagon/carriage and left them stranded with no place to go and nothing to use. A wild series of events takes off for Mattie, resulting in the taking in of another orphaned child, the return to Philadelphia, where the small 3-person family lived, an aspiring crush, the death of Mattie's grandfather, and the reunion of both Mattie and her friend Elisha (the black woman that helped out at the coffee shop) and that of Mattie and her mother, who were torn apart by the terrible panic of the epidemic and the fever itself. The novel concludes itself by showing how Mattie's life got back on track, the coffee shop reopened, and that things could only get better.
   Mrs. Drinker's story and Mattie's were very similar and didn't really differ much. Again, both talked about the Revolutionary War (look right for the historic picture of George Washington crossing the Delaware) and the fever epidemic. They also both included details specific to these events. For example, both described the specific number of deaths they had heard about and the ways that the war had affected their families. But, even more impressive than that (in my opinion), was the fact that Anderson was able to capture within her story the strong will and courage of a person living back in Mrs. Drinker's time, a year in the life of a woman from 1793. Anderson took extra care to make sure that the time period and all its elements were authentic.
   In conclusion, 'Fever, 1793' has proven itself, in comparison to another historical source from this era, accurate and authentic to the aspects of this time period.