Thursday, April 23, 2015

Intervention Discussion: Fever 1793, Chapters 24-26

Let's discuss Chapters 24-26 here!

72 comments:

  1. Are Eliza an Mattie running like a hospitable?

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    1. What makes you say that, Kortnee?

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    2. because they are taking care of some kids an Eliza and Mattie were talking about some of them not felling to good

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    3. what does that mean hospitable

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    4. Oh yeah. Those are Eliza's brother's sons and Nell (the little girl Mattie found). They all came down with the fever at the same time. So, I suppose they are running a hospital for the three of those kids.

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    5. so kortnee do you think they might have the fever or are they just really poorly sick

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    6. i think she means "Hospital"....

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    7. i think Eliza nephew's might i don't think Nell dose

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  2. I'm going to start by talking about something that we haven't been paying attention to much during our reading, and that's the author's craft. Laurie Halse Anderson is one of my favorite authors of all time, and it's because of how artfully she uses her words.

    Look at this metaphor I found on page 207 when Mattie is working to bring up a bucket of water from the well: "The crank turned once. Twice. Each turn of the crank took a year of effort, summer, spring, fall and winter..." This is a metaphor, so Laurie Halse Anderson isn't saying that turning the crank LITERALLY took a year. So...what does that metaphor mean then?

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    1. You might want to re-read the whole paragraph on page 207 to really understand the metaphor.

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    2. i think it means it tooks forever for the water to come out.

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    3. Maybe that it's so hard to crank it that it feel's like you'll be there forever getting some water?

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    4. i think that it means its was a lot of work for her to do that, because she hasn't slept in a while and she hasn't ate much, and when you don't get sleep or you don't eat it weakens your body.

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    5. Why is it taking forever? Why is it so hard? She's never had trouble with it before. Why is she having trouble now?

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    6. Kia, we were typing at the same time! That's exactly what I was thinking. :)

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    7. i think it means like she didnt feel strong enough to pull it up

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    8. i think that it is taking forever because the well is old and probably rusty and i think it's just wearing down a little bit....i guess.

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  3. I'm so exited that the fever is gone and everyone can go to their normal lives (Pgs.209-210) Also that Nathaniel is back and both Mattie and Nathaniel is happy about it. (Pgs.216-217) At first when some person was giving her flowers i didn't think that it would have been Nathaniel, but i was.

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    1. That part on pgs 209-210 when the first frost comes really surprised me because that means it got REALLY cold overnight, but somehow Mattie still slept through it. There's no way on Earth I would be able to sleep if it were that cold outside. How do you think Mattie slept through it? (Hint: I think it's connected to the metaphor from 207 I mentioned above.)

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    2. i like how the fever is gone to. it really makes everybody have a good life up ahead. to bad grandfather is dead and he cant live the good life. :(
      at first when the person who was giving flowers to Mattie. i knew right away that it was Nathaniel.

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    3. I think it's because she strong , she's been through so much lately and she has managed to get over it. Mattie is a strong, smart girl and she can get through anything.

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    4. Shelby, that sounds like it could be a theme of this book. What do you think?

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    5. I don't know maybe.......that were strong enough to get through hard times too?

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  4. did you guys think the the kids were going to get the fever?
    it kind of scared me when they went home and Eliza's brother was crying.

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    1. That scared me to i thought that like someone died or something.

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    2. so did i like when Eliza asked where the kids were and he didn't answer her right away i thought one of them were dead.

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    3. How do you think the kids got the Fever? They went without it for so long, and then, just like that, they all had it!

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    4. I couldn't remember if they were going to make it or not, and I'm so relieved that all of them did. And on pages 205-206 I got really nervous again when Eliza was saying she wanted to bleed them. Thank goodness Mattie talked her out of it!

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    5. i think that their dad gave it to them because right when that happened the father kind of got over the fever, so maybe he passed it all onto other people

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    6. I think you're right! On page 203, Mattie says "I survived this, Joesph (that's their dad) survived, and so did thousands of others." It sounds like the children were being cared for by people who had already had the Fever. Maybe it was something that still lingered in them even though they had gotten over it, and was still able to be spread to those people who hadn't had it yet, like all of the kids.

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    7. i agree with Shelby, i think the two little boys got it from their dad, and Nell got it form her mom or maybe t was from the boys father...

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  5. I think Mattie was really happy to see Nathaniel. i think she is getting excited to see the people starting to come back home. she might get to see her mom soon. i think her mom will come back. It must have been hard for Mattie to see Nell like that knowing what has happened to her mom. i wonder if they are going to open the coffee house back up.

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    1. i think they will, just not right now, because mom isn't back yet and because its a mess.

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    2. I wonder if now that Mattie has had to take care of herself, her mom (if she comes back) will allow her a little more freedom? Maybe she'll let to take a little bit more responsibility with the coffee shop. I feel like I remember Mattie, earlier in the book, mentioning running a store herself.

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    3. You can definitely tell that Mattie has grown up a lot in the last couple of months. Even Eliza can tell. On page 213 Joseph tells Mattie that she should head down to the market because that's where all the best gossips in town are hanging out. She asks Eliza for permission, but Eliza tells her she doesn't need her permission. Mattie realizes she's right and heads out.

      Even though this fever was a tragic event in her life, it definitely helped her become a more mature, responsible person.

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  6. When I first read this part, I really hated how quickly the Fever ended in the book. We had 208 pages of Fever, and then in the course of 2 pages, it was gone. It just seemed to happen to suddenly. However, the more I thought about it, knowing that this is Historical Fiction and that a lot of the events are based off of true events, I bet this is how it really happened/ seemed to happen for the residents of Philadelphia during the outbreak of Yellow Fever in 1793.

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    1. i hated how the fever ended so fast too, i felt like i missed some much of the book when it said that.

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    2. I read ahead (just a little bit, I swear!) and on the first few pages of chapter 27, Mattie expresses her bitterness over the people who are flooding back to Philadelphia as though they were simply gone on a vacation. The people who fled were completely unaffected by the fever, and they're coming back like nothing happened.

      Meanwhile, everyone who stayed in Philadelphia has suffered through a war of sickness and is still kind of in shock over it all. They are traumatized from the fever and losing loved ones, and I think it's going to be really hard for them to just go back to their normal lives like everyone else seems to be doing. Especially because it ended so quickly, like you said, Miss Mosher.

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  7. i noticed that on page(201) in the last part they were talking about the first frost that would end the fever

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    1. finally the fever is over and they can clean up the coffeehouse

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  8. I wander if her mom knows if the outbreak is over or if she knows if mattie is back

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    1. i don't think she knows but i wonder if her mom knows that her dad is dead

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    2. Some word of Grandfather's death may have reached her somehow, but probably not since the mail hasn't been running.

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  9. on page 207-208. it really showed a lot of emotion & feelings. i really liked how the author explained what Mattie was feeling.

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    1. I did, too Carmelo! I was wide awake, but the author really helped me feel Mattie's absolute exhaustion from taking care of the sick children.

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  10. i wish her mom will just come home then almost every thing will be ok in Mattie's life

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  11. i wander if they knew if the fever would end when winter came

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    1. They had talked about it before. I know I heard Grandfather mention it a few times. He talked about how there's always some summer sickness that goes away as soon as the first frost hits. I think that's why Mattie was so overjoyed when she woke up. She even thought it might not be real: "'I'm dreaming,' I told Silas. The cat ignored me and pounced on a sluggish beetle that lumbered under a leaf. 'Starving men dream of food. I dream of frost.'" (pg 210)

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  12. on page 202 i never thought that Eliza would pull out i knife.

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    1. What surprised you about that?

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    2. I never thought that she was the type of girl to have a knife on her same with mattie i never thought that she would pull out a sword

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    3. neither did! that kind of got me thinking, has she had that the whole time?

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    4. I just never pictured her carrying a knife around with her. I always pictured her as a hands on fighter. Like punching them. Not using weapons.

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    5. me too, i mean I've never seen her before but she sounds scary

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    6. Desperate times call for desperate measures! I think you're right that neither Eliza nor Nellie usually uses a weapon, but they are determined to stay alive and keep those kids safe no matter what!

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  13. yes you are right the fever did go away very quickly i was wondering how did it go away so fast how did they cure people now in the last few chapters also im glade that its gone because no one has it now that we no of

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    1. It has to do with the frost. Why would cold weather make a sickness like yellow fever disappear?

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    2. i cant believe that she would actually try to kill the thieves because last time she didnt try and she couldnt really do anything shes too small i wish i was there to help her and anyone else

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    3. i fell bad for all the kids and parents that lost somebody

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    4. i think over the time. Elisa finally took charge. i think she matured more, and now she knows what to do, and how to take charge of problems.

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    5. because the old oxygen disappers when knew came in our the knew would have at least over ruled the old i think that it is correct

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  14. same here. it would just clear up all the problems in Matties life.

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    1. if her mother came home.

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    2. ya its so true she does struggle in life her and eliza but mostly mattie with everyone dieing in her family she has hardly no one

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  15. I wonder if Mother will still be the way she used to be hard-working and always like.....making sure Mattie is using her manner's, if her mom does come back.

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    1. i think her mom will come back. i think she will be a little easier on mattie,

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    2. i think she wont be as stricken as she was with Mattie, at lest i hope not because Mattie has grown up a lot from the start of this book...

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    3. i wonder that too. maybe her mother is going to try to open up the coffeehouse

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    4. me to i think she will be a little more free with Mattie but i am sure she will still have rules but not as many.

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  16. I have noticed that now since the fever is gone everyone has been acting less hatred to other people but if i were Mattie and i see that old lady again who beat her with a can i would grab her can and beat her with it. The farmer's are coming back and the people who moved away is now coming back.

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  17. I like how descriptive the author is on pages 203-204 with the amount of work it took to take care of the sick children. She talks about having to take turns cooling them with a heavy fan that they would have to wave, and having to somewhat make your own medicine and "douse" them with it. It made me think about how lucky we are to have modern medicine. When we get sick, we just take a pill or drink some cough syrup and we tend to feel (at least a little bit) better the next day. Eliza and Mattie were working night and day for several days just to keep the kids well enough to survive!

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