How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When I was eight, she got a letter saying her husband had been killed by a runaway horse. That was her worst day. She didn't say a word for months. My father had only been dead two years, so Mother knew just what lay in Eliza's heart. They both supped sorrow with a big spoon, that's what Mother said. It took years, but the smile slowly returned to Eliza's face. She didn't turn sour like Mother did. (2.15)
Both Eliza's husband and Mattie's father were killed when Mattie was very young. Death is thought of by her as a part of the past rather than the present. Also, while Eliza and Lucille share a similar loss, they cope with their personal tragedies in very different ways. Why do you think that is?
Quote #2
I kept my eyes closed, trying to see Polly happy, joking, maybe stealing a kiss with Matthew, then bursting through the door to tell me. It couldn't be real. How could Polly be dead? (3.9)
The death of the serving girl Polly marks the novel's first casualty from the fever, and Mattie is in shock from the news. For Mattie, death is still something unreal or only seen at a great distance. In this case, the late Polly's love for her beau Matthew allows death to become something tragic and maybe even a little bit romantic. Note, too, that the love between Polly and Matthew allows us to juxtapose death with its opposite: life.
Quote #3
Bong. Bong. Bong.
A little boy sitting on the cobblestones covered his ears. The chattering marketplace voices hushed as the ringing continued. Every face turned toward the bell swaying in its tower.
"Another person dead," said the butcher. He brought his cleaver down, slicing the mutton leg on his table into two pieces. "The bell rings once for each year the person lived," he explained. (5.79-5.81)
For whom the bell tolls, indeed! The church bell tolling in the marketplace is a symbolic reminder of those who pass. Again, for Mattie, death is something experienced as a symbol rather than as a first-hand encounter. Why is this scene juxtaposed with a butcher chopping meat (i.e., food)? How is death here juxtaposed with life?
Quote #4
"I'm burning," whispered Colette. She crumpled to the flowered carpet in a faint.
While Mrs. Ogilvie shrieked, Mother knelt down and laid the back of her hand against Colette's forehead. "The fever!" (7.68-7.69)
Death is the great leveler, and even comes to the posh Ogilvie residence. Though Colette will eventually survive the fever, we're reminded in this scene that, though different social classes may treat mortality differently, illness and death come for all.
Quote #5
"Some doctors warn we may see a thousand dead before it's over. There are forty-thousand people living in Philadelphia, William. Can you imagine if one in forty were to die?" (8.57)
As Mr. Carris suggests, the idea of an epidemic is difficult for the mind to comprehend. What does death mean once it reaches such staggering numbers? Are statistics the only way we can process the enormity of such a loss?
Quote #6
My shoe squashed something brown and green and soft. I shuddered and hurried my pace. I could never abide rotten fruit.
Fruit.
Fruit?
I spun around, wide awake and hungry.
Above me hung gnarled branches heavy with green speckled pears. I grabbed one and bit into it, ignoring the juice that ran down my fingers and chin. I gathered as many pears as I could carry and set off with new energy to find Grandfather. With food, we could hold out for days. (13.55-13.59)
One of the big ideas in this novel is that death is always accompanied by life. The two are inseparable, and Mattie must realize this in order to cope with her losses. She must see death as part of a cycle rather than an end. Here, she finds a pile of rotted fruit, which she dismisses; then she looks up and sees fresh fruit that can sustain her and her grandfather. How is the pear tree emblematic of the cycle of life and death?
Quote #7
"It's a man. Stop the wagon, we must help him!"
"He is past helping, Miss," the driver said as he urged on the horses. "I checked him on the way out to fetch you this morning. He were too far gone to go to the hospital. His family tossed him out so as they wouldn't catch the fever. The death cart will get him soon for burying." (16.37)
How does one deal with dead bodies during a fever epidemic? Well, it's a good question. Once a person is dead, should he or she still be honored? What about in times of crisis, with plenty of other pressing matters?
Quote #8
Dead? Grandfather couldn't be dead. My grandfather – candy-giving, wood-chopping, tobacco-smelling grandfather. Who carried me through Philadelphia like a princess. Who knew every politician, printer, carpenter, and captain. Who fed stray dogs. Who curbed Mother's tongue. Who carved me a doll's cradle. Who dried my tears.
Dead. (19.92)
Death has finally taken someone closes to Matilda, her grandfather. Note the enormity of the emotional loss as Matilda runs through her memory banks, cataloguing his presence at every important step of her life. Who will be there for Matilda now that Grandfather is gone?
Quote #9
There could be no running from this. Hiding from death was not like hiding from Mother when she wanted me to scrub kettles, or ignoring Silas when he begged for food. I was the only one left. (20.6)
As the epidemic rages, death is personified and becomes something Mattie feels is pursuing her. Death hits closer and closer to home as Mattie realizes that she too will die one day. And possibly sooner than she would like.
Quote #10
What did it feel like to die? Was it a peaceful sleep? Some thought it was full of either trumpet-blowing angels or angry devils. Perhaps I was already dead. (20.86)
Again, Mattie contemplates her own mortality. As the fever epidemic escalates, how do life and death become almost indistinguishable? Is Mattie one of the living dead?
Quote #11
"Your grandfather was a wise man. You couldn't have saved him, Mattie. It was his time."
I sniffed and took a shaky breath.
"What happened after he died?" she asked.
I filled in the rest of the story quickly, this strange day that began with a burial and ended with a homeless child in my arms. (22.42-22.45)
Again and again, Mattie must realize that death has an opposite: life. Here, the loss of one dear person – Grandfather– is juxtaposed with the addition of another to the family – the orphan Nell.