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In the novel Lyddie, why doesn't Lyddie sign the petition?
Quick answer:
Lyddie decides not to sign the petition because she needs her current wages too badly. If the petition passes, then her hours would be reduced and she would earn less. Even if it does not pass, it would anger the mill's management and they could blacklist her. Lyddie feels that her wages are the only way that her family can pay off their debt and be able to move back to the farm. It is simply too great a risk.
That's a very interesting section of the book. Deep down, Lyddie wants to sign the petition and even knows that she should sign the petition. The petition is requesting better working conditions for the girls in the mills. It's not a ridiculous request either. The working conditions are horrible. It's loud enough to cause hearing damage, there's fibers in the air that cause lung problems, tuberculosis is a concern, and the machines are capable of causing bodily harm to the workers.
She had thought a single stagecoach struggling to hold back the horses on a downhill run was unbearably noisy. A single stagecoach! A factory was a hundred stagecoaches all inside one's skull, banging their wheels against the bone.
The petition is seeking to fix some of those issues.
Lyddie doesn't sign the petition, because she is afraid of the consequences of that action. By signing the...
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petition, she would publicly be associating with it and those workers. She runs the risk of being fired from her current job and blacklisted from the other mills. Lyddie cannot let that happen. She desperately needs the paycheck in order to pay back the debt that her family owes.
Lyddie does eventually decide to sign the petition but only after she is injured while working. Unfortunately, she is too late. The petition had already been sent off.
Why should Lyddie avoid signing the petition?
In chapter 12 Lyddie's two remaining roommates, Amelia and Betsy, argue about signing the petition that the Female Labor Reform Association is circulating. The petition would reduce the work days at the factories from thirteen to ten hours. Amelia and Lyddie are against signing the petition, for different reasons, while Betsy is considering signing.
Amelia, the most religious of the girls, uses practical and moral arguments against signing. First she warns Betsy that, if she signs, she will be dismissed from her job. The management of the factories keeps an eye on the "radicals" who spread dissatisfaction among the workers, and they fire people who sign the petition. Whether this is true or just a fear is unclear. Diana Goss is known to be involved with the FLRA, yet she still works at the factory. That could be because she is such a good worker. If a mediocre worker signed, perhaps she would be dismissed. Once a worker is fired without an honorable discharge, no other factory in town will hire that person, so the worker needs to get a different kind of job in town or move away. Amelia also argues against signing because "it does no good to rebel against authority." She goes on to say rebelling is "unladylike" and "against the Scriptures," at which Betsy scoffs.
Lyddie's reason for not signing is because she does not want to work fewer hours. She says, "But we'd be paid less." She wants her savings to accrue as quickly as possible, no matter how hard she has to work, so she can pay off her family's debts and bring her family back together again on their farm.
Betsy's reasons for signing the petition are that the factories are being unjust and the workers cannot keep up the pace that is demanded of them. Betsy compares their lifestyle to being "black slaves" because they have very little free time and must comply with the whims of factory owners. Indeed, the factories can require increased speeds and can drop the workers' wages even as they are working harder.
This chapter presents reasons for signing the petition as well as for not signing.
How do I write an essay on why Lyddie shouldn't sign the petition in Lyddie?
If you were writing an essay about why Lyddie should not sign the petition, you would want to include information on how Lyddie felt about the petition. This shows her state of mind, and the information about the consequences of signing it. Support your arguments with quotes from the book.
Lyddie is afraid to sign the petition because she values her job at the factory. She needs the money to pay off her family’s debts. She hopes that one day she will be able to get the farm back and get all of her family back together.
Lyddie got her information about the petition from the other girls in her boarding house. The petition is for a shorter work week for the girls.
"Time is more precious than money, Lyddie girl. If only I had two more free hours of an evening-what I couldn't do."
"Should you sign the petition, Betsy, they'll dismiss you. I know they will." Amelia folded the handkerchief and handed it back to Lyddie with a nod. (Ch. 12)
Lyddie also agrees with Amelia. She does not want to risk signing the petition. Lyddie is a hard worker, and money is more important to her than time. She has not been at the factory long enough to be tired.
Lyddie feels strongly about protecting her job, and she does not want any of the other girls to make trouble either.
She wasn't a slave. She was a free woman of the state of Vermont, earning her own way in the world. Whatever Diana, or even Betsy, might think, she, Lyddie, was far less a slave than most any girl she knew of. They mustn't spoil it for her with their petitions and turnouts. They mustn't meddle with the system and bring it all clanging down to ruin. (Ch. 13)
Eventually, Lyddie does decide to sign the petition and support Diana. By then it has already failed. She is more concerned about Diana, because she is pregnant and has to leave.