Sign The Petition In Lyddie, By Katherine Paterson

Signing any petition during the Industrial Revolution was a risk many people thought was worth taking. Lyddie wasn’t one of those people however. In the novel Lyddie by Katherine Paterson, Lyddie makes many decisions no young child should have to make. She is separated from her family and home life on the farm to go to work to pay off her father’s debt. She becomes a factory girl and one of her friend’s Diana Goss is trying to get her to sign the petition about unfair working conditions. While some people believe that Lyddie needs to sign the petition because the workers deserve to be treated better, Lyddie shouldn’t sign the petition because she needs to keep her job so she can make enough money to pay off her father’s debts. When she makes

Without money first off, she can’t survive but also can’t pay off the debts to go home which is her main goal. Lyddie has an advanced way of thinking for her age. Lyddie desperately wants to get her family back together so she thinks if she works harder, she’ll make more products which means more money. If she doesn’t hurry up and get enough money to pay of the debts, she might not have a farm to go home to. For example, “She must work harder. She must earn all the money to pay what they owed, so she could gather her family together back on the farm while she still had family left to gather. (page 88)”. Time is the biggest obstacle for Lyddie at the moment. Lyddie is very determined and a hard worker. Regardless of that, she still thinks she could work even harder. If she thinks she needs to work harder than she already is, which is harder than the rest of the other factory workers as it is, then obviously she knows she’s on a time crunch and needs to get the money as soon as possible. A second reason “..., she pressed two whole dollars into Mrs. Bedlow’s hand before going out on the town to buy Rachel shoes and shawl and to order a dress made for her. (page 127)” Rachel is now staying with Lyddie so she has to support both Rachel and herself. She needs to not just be able to have enough money to feed them both, Another reason money is so important to Lyddie is because she likes to think ahead. If something major happens to her,

As for Lyddie, she would be disgusted with herself if she lost her job. Lyddie used to work at Cutler’s Tavern and they only sent about $0.50 to Lyddie’s mom when they remembered. Then, a factory worker came and told Lyddie; “ ‘You’d do well in a mill, you know. You’d clear at least two dollars a week…’ (page 25)” Lyddie decided she wanted to be a factory worker. The factory’s air is polluted a little bit more than the Tavern was. However, she gets paid way more and they make sure that if she works, she gets the money. A second example why Lyddie can’t sign the petition is because she’ll be blacklisted. As for, “ ‘I’m thinking of you. What will you do with no job? You’d be blacklisted. No other corporation will hire you.’ (page 92)”. If Lyddie is blacklisted, not only will she be jobless, but she won’t be able to work at any other corporation/factory. Then, she can kiss all her reasons for becoming a factory girl goodbye. Last but not least, Lyddie needs a job or Rachel and her will be homeless. For example, “ ‘I’ll pay you more,’ she promised Mrs. Bedlow. ‘It isn’t the money…’ But it was quite clear to Lyddie that it was indeed the money in addition to the risk,.. (page 125)” If Lyddie has no job, she can’t live in corporation houses. She wouldn’t even have money to pay for Rachel and her rent. On the other hand, she can’t go back to live on the farm either because there’s nothing there. She’d have