Colonial Life: Dealing with Yellow Fever in Fever 1793
Throughout history, there has always been disease spreading throughout the world. There have been times where a society as a whole have fallen, whether it be from the disease itself or by hands of others. Colonial America was a mecca for disease and death in the 18th century. In the midst of trying to survive deadly diseases, women were trying to gain a role in society. Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Fever 1793, creates strong female characters who challenge the male-dominated life in colonial America; she also exposes the gross insufficiencies of 18th century America in dealing with epidemic.
Life in the colonial era was vastly different compared to life today. Anderson depicts the day-to-day …show more content…
The people who were unfortunate enough to catch the disease would go through extreme amount of pain and suffering before death, “Internal bleeding in the digestive tract causes bloody vomit. Many victims become delirious before dying” ("Colonial Life"). There was nothing that the doctors could do, for there was no cure, it was more of a waiting process, “The two orderlies walked to the deb of the corpse. They spoke quietly in French. Each man took one end of the dead woman’s mattress and lifted, the carried the body away” (Anderson 98). Many would suffer for extended periods of time. Then when the patient would die orderlies would nonchalantly take the corpse and dump it into a mass grave, as if the patient was never even there. Doctors thought that the best way to cure a disease was to drain it out, “‘That was ten ounces of blood. I’ll come back tomorrow to take another ten. She needs to purge the disease still in her stomach and bowels’” (Anderson 72). There was no cure, the people of Philadelphia were just waiting for the first frost to kill the spread of disease. However, in most cases people could not take the risk, nor could wait for the first frost, the epidemic caused thousands of people to flee the city. There was no guarantee that fleeing would prevent the thousands that fled from getting sick, it was just the best option (Staff, ProQuest). There was very little hope for the people of Philadelphia, the city became a ghost town, and for the few that remained within the city were either sick or had nowhere else to
Throughout history, there has always been disease spreading throughout the world. There have been times where a society as a whole have fallen, whether it be from the disease itself or by hands of others. Colonial America was a mecca for disease and death in the 18th century. In the midst of trying to survive deadly diseases, women were trying to gain a role in society. Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Fever 1793, creates strong female characters who challenge the male-dominated life in colonial America; she also exposes the gross insufficiencies of 18th century America in dealing with epidemic.
Life in the colonial era was vastly different compared to life today. Anderson depicts the day-to-day …show more content…
The people who were unfortunate enough to catch the disease would go through extreme amount of pain and suffering before death, “Internal bleeding in the digestive tract causes bloody vomit. Many victims become delirious before dying” ("Colonial Life"). There was nothing that the doctors could do, for there was no cure, it was more of a waiting process, “The two orderlies walked to the deb of the corpse. They spoke quietly in French. Each man took one end of the dead woman’s mattress and lifted, the carried the body away” (Anderson 98). Many would suffer for extended periods of time. Then when the patient would die orderlies would nonchalantly take the corpse and dump it into a mass grave, as if the patient was never even there. Doctors thought that the best way to cure a disease was to drain it out, “‘That was ten ounces of blood. I’ll come back tomorrow to take another ten. She needs to purge the disease still in her stomach and bowels’” (Anderson 72). There was no cure, the people of Philadelphia were just waiting for the first frost to kill the spread of disease. However, in most cases people could not take the risk, nor could wait for the first frost, the epidemic caused thousands of people to flee the city. There was no guarantee that fleeing would prevent the thousands that fled from getting sick, it was just the best option (Staff, ProQuest). There was very little hope for the people of Philadelphia, the city became a ghost town, and for the few that remained within the city were either sick or had nowhere else to