Lyddie focuses on her work and does not want to join any labor movements, and then she gets injured on the job.
Lyddie does not want to join the movements for factory workers’ rights. She is concerned with being called a slave. She does not like the songs the girls sing comparing factory life to slavery. They tell her they are just songs, and she should not get so offended by them. Lyddie values her independence and freedom, and does not want to equate factory work with slavery. She feels like she is earning money and helping her family.
She liked Diana, really she did, yet she found herself avoiding her friend as though radicalism were something catching, like diphtheria. She knew Mr. Marsden was beginning to keep track of the girls who stopped by Diana's looms. She could see him watching and taking mental note. (Ch. 13)
Lyddie does not want to get in trouble. She doesn’t even want to read the movement’s newspaper. Diana tells her not to be afraid to read something she does not agree with. Lyddie doesn’t want to risk her position. Everything depends on it. She writes a letter to her mother telling her that she will give her money to support her and Lyddie’s remaining sister, Rachel. She also writes her brother to see if he knows that their littlest sister is dead, and tells him that she is saving money to pay off the debt on the farm.
Lyddie is so focused on this goal that she doesn’t even care about the machine speedup that is frustrating all of the other women.
No matter how fast the machines speeded up, Lyddie was somehow able to keep pace. She never wasted energy worrying or complaining. It was almost as if they had exchanged natures, as though she had become the machine, perfectly tuned to the roaring, clattering beasts in her care. (Ch. 13)
Lyddie is unnerved by the overseer, Mr. Marsden. She calls him a “strange little man.” He often comes too close and seems to look at her. Lyddie focuses on her work. Betsy tells her that she wants to go to college, after she has paid for her brother. Lyddie is fascinated by the idea of a woman in college.
Factory work is dangerous. There are accidents and injuries, as well as sickness. Lyddie ignores it all. Then one day she gets hurt. She is threading a shuttle and it hits her in the head. Even injured, Lyddie does not want to leave work. Diana takes her to a doctor friend of hers.
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