Constantia is living in Philadelphia during the outbreak of Yellow Fever in 1797. The disease spread quickly among the population. The outbreak “swept away so many of our relations and acquaintances” (Ormond 4). It’s assumed to have originated on a trade ship from the Caribbean area. Constantia moved to the city from the suburbs in hopes of escaping her previous neighborhood which she describes as “scarcely accessible in winter, for pools and gullies” besides “abounding with indigence and profligacy” (60). The home is located near the center of the city and Constantia claims it to have “an aspect of much greater comfort and neatness . . . in a quiet, cleanly and well-paved alley” (60). This environment offered better opportunities to get food and transportation in the city. This change of residence is very different to her previous living situation, which she describes as “old, crazy, and full of avenues to air” (59). …show more content…
She also avoids certain social interactions “which necessity did not prescribe” (61) and keeps to herself when she can. Her new situation mimics the emergence of the new nation, which is interesting to note because America is around the same age as Constantia in the story when Brown writes Ormond. The new nation and Constantia both share a degree of isolation and are struggling to figure out how to manage a new “relationship” with a “father” who is far away, that father being England in regards to America. Constantia has hope that the change of scenery will constitute a feeling of safety and security compared to where she lived previously. Constantia hopes that her new surroundings will help her to better adjust to her new role as caretaker for the family and bread winner that she has been forced to adopt by her
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is a historical fiction. It takes place during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The main character Mattie Cook lives there and her world is turned upside down by it. Mattie has to keep persevering to survive the epidemic. Laurie Halse Anderson teaches the lesson of perseverance and uses author’s craft to express her point. Anderson uses two types of author’s craft in Fever 1793 which are descriptive words and character development.
...Andrew L. “Yellow Fever and the Late Colonial Public Health Response in the Port of Veracruz.” Hispanic American Historical Review 77, no. 4 (1997): 619-644.
You woke up a week ago feeling odd. You were not sure what was wrong, but your body was full of aches, you felt hot to the touch, and you kept vomiting. Your mother told you to lay down and rest, hoping it was just a cold. After a few days, you began to feel better, well enough that you wanted to return to the river to watch the trade ships come in. Now, unfortunately, your symptoms have come back with a vengeance – your fever is back along with intense abdominal pain, your mouth is bleeding without being wounded, and every time you vomit, it appears black in color. Also, when you look in the mirror, your skin has changed from the sun-kissed color you have always been to a dull yellow hue. The doctor comes in to examine you; he makes many “tsk tsk” noises and hurries out of the room with a cloth over his face. The doctor mumbles to your mother that he believes you have Yellow Jack and there is nothing more he can do, you are going to die. Your mother weeps uncontrollably yet you cannot react because another horrendous pain in your head has doubled you over. Soon, as you stop shaking and begin to relax, the sounds of the doctor and your mother become white noise and your surroundings begin to dull until you prove the doctor right; another person fell victim to the infectious Yellow Fever virus.
The 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Memphis proved to be fatal, killing almost all who got infected. The disease traveled up from New Orleans infecting and killing many on its way. Memphis was going through reconstruction and was becoming the center for merchants and travelers. Furthermore, Memphis began to become overly populated only increasing the devastation that would be caused by the yellow fever. This was a confusing period were even medical professionals did not know where the disease came from or how they could to stop it. The epidemic caused panic and challenged the state government of Tennessee and made changes to it that are still in effect today.
Intriguing things such as madness, hallucinations, paranoia, and depression are all traits that make a story memorable and interesting. However, there is more than just madness contained in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Through the use of an unnamed narrator, Gilman depicts how women of her time were trapped by social barriers.
As New Orleans was the center of communal roles, Edith Wharton’s’ “Roman Fever” was based in Rome, but the characters are from Old New York’s muffled Victorian society, which has the uppermost values for appropriateness. The two characters, Grace Ansley and Alida Slade were raised up in Manhattan, New York and were childhood friends ever since they can recollect.
In document A, Dr.Ward was being interviewed by the House of Lords Committee about the condition of kids in the factories. Dr. Ward refers to these factories as, “nurseries of disease and vice.” By saying this he inferred that the diseases and vice started in these factories and spread to the children, who then brought it home to their families.Therefore, when these kids brought home these diseases and sickness they infected everyone else in their house. This would be unhealthy for the people of the working class.
The busy season for the shop she was working on came and the owner of the shop kept demanding for what we call overtime. She got fired after she said, “I only want to go home. I only want the evening to myself!.” Yezierska was regretful and bitter about what happened because she ended up in cold and hunger. After a while she became a trained worker and acquired a better shelter. An English class for foreigners began in the factory she was working for. She went to the teacher for advice in how to find what she wanted to do. The teacher advised her to join the Women’s Association, where a group of American women helps people find themselves. One of the women in the social club hit her with the reality that “America is no Utopia.” Yezierska felt so hopeless. She wondered what made Americans so far apart from her, so she began to read the American history. She learned the difference between her and the Pilgrims. When she found herself on the lonely, untrodden path, she lost heart and finally said that there’s no America. She was disappointed and depressed in the
Over several centuries Roman fever was used to describe the spread of malaria outbreaks in Rome; the city was embedded with this disease due to the swampy terrain that surrounded the area becoming a breeding ground for mosquitos. This plague was not only an actual concern for the women during their younger voyages to Rome, but holds a symbolic meaning as well. In reminiscing about the past the women bring up Mrs. Slade’s Aunt Harriet and her actions against her own sister when she found out they were in love with the same man. "Oh, yes; Great-aunt Harriet. The one was supposed to have sent her young sister out to the Forum after sunset to gather a nightblooming flower for her album.”, At any rate, the poor little sister caught the fever and died. Mother used to frighten us with the story when...
Understanding this historical context, a major question that “The Yellow Wallpaper” raises is whether the narrator is actually sick or whether the sickness illustrated in the text is a metaphorical sickness that is to be understood as a commentary on women's oppression by the male-dominated society of the time. Due...
Throughout the late 1800s Americans were workaholics, constantly working in order to make a living for their families at home. Women stayed home and took care of the house as well as the children. The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” takes place in the late 1800s.The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is no stranger to the hysteria that took over women in the 19th century. According to Mary Ellen Snodgrass, after her own postpartum emotional collapse and treatment in 1887, Gilman knew about the situation women were experiencing (“Gilman”). All the pressure of working and raising children affected all Americans, but society blamed the nervous depression mainly on women because they were women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman conveys her own life experience and illness that she went through and how women were treated during the 1800’s.
Anderson shows misconceptions of the time period by using the misperceived causes of Yellow Fever. Mattie does not understand what actually killed Polly and the others but word in the coffeehouse is that it was a miasma. She overhears this conversation: “I’ve heard stories of fever among the Santo Domingan refugees. They live close to Ball’s Wharf… Bad coffee is a nuisance” (Anderson 20, 21). Nobody understood how all of this could have begun, so they left it up to the doctors and scientists to figure it out. Under a tremendous amount of pressure, the doctors and scientists were doing research to figure out what the cause of Yellow Fever was, and why it was killing many loved ones. According to Jim Murphy, on page 15 of An American Plague, “Foulke said he knew the origin of the fevers: the repulsive smell in the air caused by the rotting coffee on Ball’s Wharf… Any number of things could cause this condition, such as poor diet, excess drinking, poison, or a dog ...
Pamela K. Gilbert, “’Scarcely to be Described’: Urban Extremes as Real Spaces and Mythic Places in the London Cholera Epidemic of 1854,” Nineteenth Century Studies 14 (2000): 149-72.
Use: I will use this as an extra source to supplement The Great Influenza and get more detailed information about Philadelphia, as well as Sans Francisco if I feel it would be useful.
The Disease Yellow Fever Throughout history, many different diseases have infected the world. Such diseases consist of measles, mumps, malaria, typhus and yellow fever. Many of these diseases are caused by different things and originated in different countries. Yellow fever is a deadly disease caused by a viral infection that is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. Although it is found to be most common in males in their early 20's, yellow fever can affect any sex, race, or age.