How would you put all the verbs in this in the pas tense? Can you fix it?

Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a young woman named Matilda Cook (Mattie) enduring the yellow fever epidemic. This book illustrates her tough journey through a time where even the youngest children had to take charge and grow up. In the beginning of the book Mattie was very careless about her chores and would always try to avoid them.



One way Mattie had changed is that she did her chores without direction from her elders. Before the epidemic hit Philadelphia Mattie would seldom do work even when directed from Eliza and Mother. “I cant tell who is lazier, you or Polly” (2). In this quote Mother is comparing Mattie to their lazy servant Polly. Towards the end of the epidemic when Mattie was living with Eliza; she would watch the kids take care of Joseph and just help out. Mattie has become much more mature.



Mattie has also changed by getting the sense of having to work hard for something. One example of her working hard was when grandfather and her were by the chestnut tree and needed some food desperately. She then went to the river and used a makeshift net to try and get some filling and healthy food for grandfather and her. Though her trap failed due to the faithfulness of King George (her parrot), Mattie got the sense of what it felt like to work hard and not succeed. Mattie has learned that though you may try as hard you possibly can and still fail. Mattie has learned to work and accept failing and move on.





Another way Mattie changed during this epidemic was that she now puts others before herself. Just like she put grandfather before herself during the robbery, she also put Nell who was a stranger first. “If I screamed Grandfather might wake, and they could attack us both” (139-140). In this quote Mattie is putting Grandfather’s health in front her safety by trying not to startle the burglars and make him come downstairs to be protective of her. Mattie learned that others are just as important as her.





During the course of the epidemic of yellow fever Mattie has grown dramatically. Mattie learned to put others in front of herself; do her share of the work learn to work hard and much more. Mattie became a remarkable young lady who has learned to appreciate every precious second she has with her family and friends.How would you put all the verbs in this in the pas tense? Can you fix it?
You're actually going about this the wrong way. When writing an literary analysis, you always want to keep all of your verbs in the present or the present perfect tense. The reason why is that literature is alive! Don't talk about it as if it is something of the past that will never be looked at again. For example, change the "had changed" in the second paragraph to "has changed" or "changes."