1. Yellow Fever Versimilitude
By: Trajan Maccubbin

2. In the book fever 1793 Laurie Halse Anderson helped create verisimilitude by including the symptoms of yellow fever, their reactions, and how they dealt with it.

3. When she added the symptoms of yellow fever it really showed how it was back then. When she added very descriptive phrases like “more black vomit spewed forth” it made me really picture that disgusting throw-up that nearly made me barf too. In the non-fiction book “An American Plague” it said “between agonizing gasps and groans, she would stop abruptly and she would spew a foul black bile.” showing that her sickness was very accurate.

4. When Anderson added the reactions of the people it really immersed me in the story, for instance when she described how everyone was panicking and turning on each other it was like the time period because back then people did panic and not know what to do, for instance when in “An American Plague” it said “…windows slammed and shuttered, doors locked tight… servants were ordered to stay behind and guard the house from thieves.” the world had turned to chaos.

5. When Laurie Halse Anderson added how they took care of the fever it did show a lot of verisimilitude. When the book said “Her pulse is fast and strong. This is the crisis, she must be bled”, it really made me believe it was the time period because in the book “An American Plague” back then they didn’t think that medicine or anti-biotics were the answer but rather doing things like draining the blood of a sick person was the answer. In “An American plague” it said “bloodletting, or phlebotomy, was also practiced” meaning that this was an accurate way they dealt with the sickness.

6. So in conclusion I believe that through how Laurie Halse Anderson depiction the symptoms, reactions, and how the people dealt with the problem, and An American Plague’s accurate events, it showed perfect verisimilitude of the time period, and there actions.