Nathaniel Benson is Mattie's love in the novel. Over time Eliza becomes not only Matilda's friend but also she is her equal. Eliza dedicated to serving the Free African Society. Eliza lost her husband many years ago, though she is still close with her brother Joseph and his twin sons, Robert and William. Lucille, like Grandfather, is from an older generation, one that lived through the hardships Revolutionary War.Įliza is free a black woman who works at Matilda's family's coffeehouse. When Lucille falls ill, though, Matilda must figure out what to do and how to live without her mother there for her. Lucille is a single parent, the main authority figure in her daughter's life, and is at odds with Matilda from the very beginning of the novel. She's Mattie's mother but she's also a force that must be reckoned with.

She is basically the antagonist in this novel. Grandfather's death is the one that hits closest to home for Matilda. Matilda later uses his knowledge to protect the children in the coffeehouse. He teaches her the fundamentals of soldiering, which, believe it or not, actually come in handy when stranded in the country. Much of what Matilda knows of the world, after all, she has learned from her grandfather.

He's a representative of an older generation that passes down their skills, history, and knowledge to the young. Grandfather is a symbol of an earlier time since, as he reminds us over and over, he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He has a pet parrot named King George that he won in a card game. Matilda's Grandfather is a solider, Captain William Farnsworth Cook of the Pennsylvania Fifth Regiment. GRANDFATHER (CAPTAIN WILLIAM FARNSWORTH COOK) It's an extreme scenario, and in order to respond to it, Matilda has to grow up very, very quickly due to her situations and growing up becomes a matter of life and death. Matilda hits a number of stages, each important to her development and growth process. Matilda will be coming of age during a crisis situation – the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. The situations in she finds herself are very out of the ordinary. Matilda's character development works a little bit differently than other young adult protagonists. Fourteen-year-old Matilda 'Mattie' Cook is the teenage protagonist of a young adult novel.

Lucille cook fever 1793