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Chapter 17
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lyddie, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Bravery, Endurance, and Hope
Labor, Enslavement, and Racial Prejudice
Biological Family vs. Found Family
Written Language and Power
Gender Inequality
Summary
Analysis
Charlie has finally come to Lowell. When Lyddie goes downstairs to greet him, she is shocked by his well-tailored appearance; he is still small, but he seems much older. And Charlie loves his new life. The millers have taken him on as a full apprentice, and they are educating him like their own son. When Lyddie hears this, she just murmurs, “you got a family.”
This poignant, ironic exchange demonstrates to Lyddie that while she has been waiting to reconnect with her biological family, Charlie has been pouring his energy into the surrogate family he found at the flour mill. In addition to emphasizing the complex nature of family and community, this passage also once more hints at the relative ease young men faced when compared with young women from similar backgrounds.
Active
Themes
Charlie tells Lyddie that she is “only a girl,” unable to provide for herself and her younger siblings. To that end, Charlie is happy that the millers have agreed to take Rachel on as another apprentice. He has it all planned out: Judah will proceed with the sale of the Worthen home, as he is set on doing, and Charlie and Rachel will start their comfortable life as the miller’s surrogate children. Only Lyddie will be left alone, fending for herself in Lowell.
Just weeks after Lyddie began to regain the siblings she had been fighting for all along, she will now lose Rachel again, not to disease but to a found family Lyddie is not welcomed into. Charlie’s lack of care here suggests his selfishness—perhaps learned from a patriarchal society that encourages men to think primarily of their own needs.
Active
Themes
Lyddie wants to protest, but she knows this is what’s best for Rachel, so she goes to pack her sister a bag. Rachel is excited to see Charlie at first, though she panics when she realizes Lyddie is not coming with them. Lyddie tries to stay positive for Rachel, making Rachel promise to work on her reading and writing. Charlie and Rachel set off—though before they leave, Charlie gives Lyddie a letter from Luke Stevens.
Active
Themes
It takes weeks of missing Rachel before it even occurs to Lyddie to open the letter from Luke. When she does, Lyddie is shocked to see that the letter is a marriage proposal—Luke has bought the Worthen cabin, and he hopes Lyddie will live there with him. Lyddie wonders if this is all Charlie’s doing: “do they think they can buy me?” Lyddie tears the letter into bits and then, surprising herself, she bursts into tears.
Active
Themes
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