LYDDIE
Lydia (Lyddie) Worthen, a thirteen-year-old begins working in the Lowell textile mill to pay off her family’s debt. In Lyddie by Katherine Paterson, every girl has the choice of signing the petition Diana Goss is circulating. The air in the factory is murky and dense, the sound coming from the looms are unbearable, as well as the unfair hours and pay on the job. Lyddie should sign the petition, for the treatment she and many other girls received on their job are unjust.
The Lowell mill, increasing the speed and hours for small pay. According to Lyddie, “we’re working long hours, tending more machines, all of which have been speeded up to demons pace… Our real wages have gone down more often than they’ve
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They didn't mention any of the problems occurring from the factory.
In the book Lyddie it says, “she had begun coughing, a dry, painful cough through the night that kept both Betsy and Amelia awake”(Paterson 89). Prudence has become ill due to the factory’s thick, murky air full of debris and cotton. The factory isn’t a safe place to work, just breathing the air causes sickness. Lyddie mentions in the text, “within five minutes, her head felt like a log being split to splinters.”(Paterson 75). The looms a while working are unbelievably loud for the workers had to deal with this daily. The factory’s working condition aren’t safe nor healthy
If Lyddie should or shouldn’t sign the petition is predominantly opinion based. Others might argue that Lyddie should not sign the petition, to earn money enough to pay off her family's debt. But the book states, “uncle Judah’s bound to determined to sell”(Paterson 143). Uncle Judah is determined to sell the farm to be repaid for taking care of Mama and the babies. Therefore there is no debt to be repaid and no farm to return to. In addition, Lyddie got a letter that states, “we regret to inform you of the death of Maggie M. Worthen”(Paterson 159). Lyddie now goes through hardships for her mother has died. Lyddie has no family to reunite with