Fever (Themes)

Themes

Prejudice and Racism

One of the prevailing themes found in “Fever” is that of prejudice. The white Philadelphians place all blame for the yellow fever that grips the city on slaves who have been sent from Santo Domingo to Philadelphia. Although there is no factual or medical evidence linking the slaves to the spread of the fever, this belief continues to prevail. African Americans are shunned throughout the city except for when their services are required, such as for caring for the sick and burying the dead.

Through the different voices, prejudice against people other than African Americans is explored. A Jewish character, Abraham, reports how he was hated by even his employees. He also explores the universality of racism in his recollection of how European Jews were often accused of bringing fever and disease that killed entire cities.

Racism is inherent in the way African Americans are treated, both during this time of crisis and prior to it. Allen remembers how African Americans were forced to remain at the back of the church, so he founded a church solely for the worship of African Americans. At the same time, however, the story points to a time when African Americans and whites came together on an equal level, such as at the founding of Allen’s new church. The tenuous connection between white and black Philadelphians is demonstrated by the ease with which it is severed.

Slavery

Slavery is an underlying theme that affects almost all of the story’s major narratives. The description of a slave ship makes clear the horrible conditions under which Africans were brought to the Americas. The story also equates the plight of free African Americans in Philadelphia with their brothers and sisters still in chains. Thus, the issue of slavery is present in all aspects of African-American life in the 1700s, whether the African Americans are free or enslaved. Ironically, many African Americans were drawn to Philadelphia because it was a predominately Quaker city; followers of the Quaker faith emerged as some of America’s earliest opponents of slavery.

Allen, though a free man, lives in a sort of self-imposed slavery. One of the voices accuses him of following Dr. Rush like a “loyal puppy” and then proceeds with a litany of racist slurs to emphasize how Allen is not truly acting freely but instead buckling under and becoming what the whites expect of him. The voice makes the slavery analogy more explicit by comparing Allen to a potential Moses for his people. Instead of leading the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, the voice challenges Allen to lead African Americans from the drudgery of their Philadelphia lives and their “lapdogging” to white people to a place where they would be appreciated for their own talents and skills.

Yet another voice — that of an afflicted person — emerges to speak of what slavery means. This voice maintains that sick people are more enslaved than anyone, white or black, for those with the disease have no choice but to follow its bidding. This voice urges Allen to break the bonds of his slavery to Dr. Rush and return to his family.

Finally, voices from more contemporary times emerge to give their reflections on slavery and freedom. A former slave recalls what it was like to be at the beck and call of a master. Another thoroughly modern voice speaks out, telling of his unpleasant job in a nursing home, but ending with the words, “But me, I’m free. It ain’t that bad, really.”

Illness and Death

In a story about a raging yellow fever epidemic, illness and death play a major part. The effects of yellow fever on the body are described in the autopsy reports, as are the maladies suffered by the afflicted people. However, the illness that holds Philadelphia in its grip is also reflected in the stillness of the streets and the stoppage of business. Philadelphia has become a place utterly transformed by the disease that decimates its inhabitants, and African Americans the scapegoat for the wrath and fear of the white inhabitants. Clearly, the yellow fever epidemic has affected not only its victims’ physical bodies but also its victims’ and soon-to-be victims” mental states.

The shadow of death pervades the story. Death manifests itself in the bodies piled high in the cemetery carts, in the cries of the orphans, in Allen’s refusal to return to his wife and child, and in the almost-emptied city. However, death has the power to grab hold of everyone, as it captures Wilcox, who had been faithfully burying bodies for two months.

Topics for Further Study

• What insights can you draw about late 18th-century race relations from “Fever”? Explain your answer.
• Investigate the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia. Try and find answers to such questions as how many people died; how people of different races were affected; how did the outbreak affect business and daily life; how and why did the outbreak end. After answering these and other questions, hypothesize how this epidemic affected the development of Philadelphia.
• In a 1996 interview, Wideman equated the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia with the present-day AIDS epidemic, which was not a serious medical factor at the time he wrote “Fever.” Do you find such a comparison apt? Why or why not? Conduct additional research as necessary to formulate your argument.
• Research the Black Plague, which devastated Europe in the 1300s, killing perhaps as much as 25 percent of the population. Draw comparisons between the Black Plague and the 1793 yellow fever epidemic of Philadelphia.
• Find an artistic representation of any plague period. Then compare the depiction of that plague with the one described by Allen in “Fever.”
• How experimental a work of fiction do you find “Fever”? How do the devices and narratives that Wideman employs affect your reading and your understanding of the story? Find other examples of experimental stories, and compare them to “Fever.”