Saturday, April 5, 2008

In The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare, why had Matt's mother insisted they travel to Maine, in spite of her weakened condition?

Matt's mother had insisted on traveling to Maine because she didn't want to miss spending Christmas together with Matt. More than anything, she wanted to make sure that Matt didn't have to spend the holiday alone in the wilderness.


At the homecoming reunion in the cabin, Matt's father mentioned that the whole family had come down with typhus fever; this is why they had been delayed from reaching Maine sooner. Matt's mother had been more affected by the fever than anyone else. Yet, despite her weakened condition, she had pushed the rest of the family to make haste so that they could all be together for the Christmas holiday. So, presumably after the baby had been born (the baby only lived for five days) and after waiting at the trading post for three weeks for the river to thaw, the whole family had made their way north to Matt.

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