Student Question

In the book Lyddie, what happens to Lyddie and Charles' father?

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Lyddie's father, Mr. Worthen, leaves the family due to failed financial ventures and has been absent for two years. He hoped to avoid the family ending up in a "poor farm," which was a strict, unpleasant place for those unable to support themselves. Lyddie's mother, who is mentally ill, claims he left for "vain riches." The lack of communication suggests he either cannot return or does not intend to.

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When Lyddie opens, Mr. Worthen, Lyddie's father, has been away for two years. He left the family because the prospects he had for making money on their farm had soured. The maple trees he had on his land did not produce enough syrup to be profitable, and the potash he hoped to sell had no buyers. He had invested in sheep, but wool prices were not high enough for him to earn any significant money from them. He left to try to keep the family from having to go to the "poor farm," a place that the township operated for people who could not support themselves. Such places were not pleasant; residents had to work on the farm for their keep but had to follow strict rules. It would feel like giving up your freedom to go to live there--and it would provide no way for you to ever escape...

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poverty. 

Lyddie's mother has a different description of why her husband left. She tells the children, "Your father went out searching for vain riches. He ain't never coming back." However, the mother's explanation cannot be taken at face value. She is mentally ill: "The truth be told, Mama had gone somewhat queer in the head after their father had left." 

Still, the fact that the family has not even received a letter from Mr. Worthen for the two years he has been gone indicates that something serious has happened to prevent him from doing so, or that he does not intend to return. When Lyddie meets Ezekial, she imagines that her father may be, like the runaway slave, "totally dependent on the kindness of others for everything." However, if that were the case, he might certainly be given paper and postage by some kind person, just as Lyddie receives such help from Diana. Possibly he had gotten ill; Lyddie gets extremely sick later in the book, and if she hadn't had Rachel to care for her, even Mrs. Bedlow acknowledges that Lyddie would have died. While Lyddie is working at Cutler's Tavern, she gives up her dream of her father ever coming home, but later she considers the possibility that he left for their benefit and he may have been prevented from returning.

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