Should Lyddie Get Rid Of Child Labour

Lyddie is struggling to breathe and is exhausted. This leads some to say that she must sign the petition. However, signing the petition could get her fired which will make it almost impossible to reunite back with her family. When talking to her roommates, Lyddie shares her own opinion on signing the petition. When talking, her roommates mention that if you sign the petition they wouldn't have to work longer. She says, “But we'd be paid less” (Paterson 91). This quote shows that signing the petition can decrease her payment which would make it even longer to reunite with her family. When Betsy finishes reading to Lyddie they talk about what they heard lately. Unfortunately, Lyddie has the possibility of getting blacklisted (Paterson 81). This quote shows that if she gets fired for signing the petition she could get blacklisted, which means that no other mills would hire her. Being blacklisted makes it difficult to reunite back with her family. It's tough working in the factory but Lyddie is strong enough to keep on working and

The novel Lyddie by Katherine Paterson is about a poor farm girl who finds herself working in a factory in Lowell, Ma. Lyddie is forced to find employment when her family could no longer afford the farm. Lyddie finds working conditions at the factory to be very difficult. Some girls want to write a petition to the government to ask for an improvement in conditions. Should Lyddie risk her employment by signing the petition? Lyddie should not sign, although others believe that she should.

Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.”

When a petition to get better working conditions many people have to decide either to sign it and possibly lose their job or to not sign it and keep working in terrible working conditions but still make money.In the fiction novel Lyddie, by Katherine Peterson is about a 13 year old girl named Lyddie that was loaned out to a tavern, and was working for no pay to pay of some debts, but about a year later she was fired. Then Lyddie went to Lowell to become a factory girl, now she has become the best worker there, but now she has to decide either to sign a petition and get fired and blacklisted or to not sign the petition and keep her job. Some people think that Lyddie should sign the petition but if she does that she will more likely fired and then blacklisted. But Lyddie shouldn’t so she keeps her job.

One detail from the novel that supports this reason is that “They’d take July off, go back to the farm, the two of them, but it was a vain dream Lyddie knew there would be nothing to eat there. Lyddie wishes that she could go home and relax and spend time with Charlie and Rachel. Another detail from the book that supports this reason is that “...Which was why the machines were speeded and why the girls hardly dared take time off even when they were feverish…” When the factory girls worked on the machines, they get exhausted causing a fever. One more detail that supports this reason is “Oh! I cannot be a slave, I will not be a slave…” In this quote, it shows that Lyddie will never be a slave to anyone. This shows that it is another specific reason for signing the petition. Because of Rachel’s sickness, Lyddie wishes that she could care for Rachel so she could get

Lyddie should sign the petition because of her work load, her wages, and her safety. Lyddie should sign the petition to decrease the amount of work she has. For example, “[M]aybe I can sign that…cast them off like dry husks to the wind.” (Paterson 113). The

“If we can't begin to agree on fundamentals, such as the elimination of the most abusive forms of child labor, then we really are not ready to march forward into the future.” Alexis Herman. The progressive era, spanning from the 1890s to the 1920s was a time where investigative journalism otherwise known as muckraking brought major issues to light, including child labor. Child labor, while not as prominent is the United States today, is still happening in our community on both a local and national level. This is due to loopholes in laws, as well as patterns of child labor created in the Progressive Era that despite its horrors, still continues today. Overall, child labor during the Progressive Era has created a destructive cycle that has been

By signing the petition, it would assist in setting laws that would give workers less time of working with good wages. With the free time, Lyddie can rest after a full week of work and do other extracurricular activities. According to the text, Paterson mentions Betsy’s dialogue, “If only I had two more free hours of an evening-- what I couldn’t do.” (91) This quote shows that free time is more significant than money; since, there are other priorities besides money and work. In this scenario, Lyddie can continue her education, including studying and even attending the Oberlin women college; instead of being stuck in a factory working endlessly. Moreover, Lyddie can visit her family without getting fired without an honorable charge. In chapter eleven, Paterson claims, “If she left, even to see the cabin and visit for an hour or so with Charlie, she would lose her position.” (81) This quote shows that if Lyddie decides to visit her family, she would be putting her job on the line. However, if Lyddie decides to sign the petition, there will be changes in the working hours, so she would have extra time to see her family without getting blacklisted from her job at the textile mill. As a result, Lyddie should sign the petition to have extra time handle other priorities other than

Betsy has just left with her uncle to go to maine. Betsy says that she will be back but Lyddie knows that she will never come back because she will never get strong enough to work in the factory. “...maybe I could sign the cussed petition. Not for me. I don’t need it, but for Betsy and the others.

Lyddie is a very hardworking and determined girl, but there's a limit. In chapter 12, Lyddie's friend Betsy gets sick, but Lyddie doesn’t even notice because she’s so tired from working 4 looms 13 hours daily. In the book, it states “She had begun coughing, a dry, painful cough through the night that kept both Betsy and Amelia awake, though not Lyddie. She slept like a caterpillar in winter. Indeed, she was cocooned from all the rest.”(89) This statement reveals that the work in the weaving room is such a weakening job that Lyddie didn’t even awaken to a cough that held everyone else awake, but if she signs the petition she’ll have more relaxed free time and less work time. Also, in chapter 12, Lyddie is explaining her feelings on their work. To be more clear Lyddie says,”When I started in the spinning room, I could do a thirteen-hour day and to spare. But in those days I had a hundred thirty spindles to tend. Now I’ve twice that many at a speed that would make the devil curse. I’m worn out, Amelia. We’re all worn out.”(91) To repeat Lyddie even knows that the job is a very tiring job that only a signature might help making your life alot easier. To summarize it is worth risking your job then living your one life in a very boring and tiring

From all the above arguments, you can clearly see a change is needed to be made to improve working environments. The petition will help to give workers better living environment for a better life and safer worker environments so workers would be safe. It will also

The first reason why Lyddie should sign the petition is because of her low compensation. Her mother sent Lyddie to work to pay off a debt owed by her family. This means that Lyddie needs higher wages in order to pay off what they owed. According to Lyddie it stated, “Lyddie was given another loom and then another, she could tend all four and felt a satisfying disdain for those who could not do the work.”(89) This shows that Lyddie can keep up the pace but does she know when to stop? If she does not know what the debt is, how can she possibly know how much money she needs to earn? She could have been doing this superfluous work in order to keep her compensation the same. You can infer that the family debt is high because of Lyddie getting an upraised pay among all the other girls, yet she cannot pay off the debt of what they owed. In a span of two years and with a pay double of what she would habitually have, she did not earn the money in order to pay off the

The factory life did not choose young Lyddie, young Lyddie chose the factory life. The book, Lyddie, written by Katherine Paterson was about the life of a girl from Vermont who faced many struggles and difficult decisions. She made the choice to take on working as a factory girl in Lowell Massachusetts because she thought it would be a better life and a convenient source of income for herself. After a while she learned the factory life was not what she had expected. Near the end of the novel one of her coworkers that had helped Lyddie out a lot at the commence of Lyddie's life as a factory girl, and goes by the name Diana Goss, had started a petition for the girls to have shorter working days at the factory. Lyddie had been faced with the decision whether or not to sign this petition and risk losing everything she has worked so hard for to free herself of such harsh conditions. Lyddie should sign the petition for many reasons, she deserved to be treated equivently with respect to the amount of effort she put into her work, she should have been able to have more time for herself to do the things she was fond of, and the factory life was way too stressful on her, she should not have had to put up with such poor conditions. This

“After supper she stumbled upstairs” (100). Lyddie works so hard after supper she goes upstairs to her room. She’s so tired she can’t even make it upstairs, so she stumbles her way up the obstacle. “She had been coughing a dry, painful cough through the night that kept both Betsy and Amelia awake, though not Lyddie” (89). Lyddie is sick and she has an awful cough that keeps workers awake which isn’t good because they will get extremely overtired with staying up all night and working really hard all day. “They could not keep up the pace” (89). The boss sped-up the machines and none of the girls could keep up the pace the machines were going. If Lyddie signs he petition, things can get better. There is a chance things can get out of hand but with all the girls getting sick and overworked, things may just get

By definition, child labor is the illegal and/or inhumane use of children in an industry or business. Child labor should not be a controversial issue and people need to open their eyes and see the lives that are being taken from children all around the world. Americans have developed this “not my kid” type of view and blame is put on the parents of the children who are exploited in factories, sweatshops, and on the streets trafficking drugs or being sexually trafficked. The issue of child labor needs to become a priority to all Americans, parents and children alike. There are millions of children forced into child labor today and it is time we agree on fundamentals as a nation and globally. If we address this issue on a global standpoint and all parties step up to take action, millions of children will be freed of the inhumane, youth stealing and life threatening industry of child exploitation.