Previous
Chapter 3
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
Triphena is stern and efficient, having never married because she vows “not to be a slave to any man.” Over time, Triphena softens towards Lyddie, impressed by her work ethic. Once, Triphena tells a story about two frogs who fall in a pail of milk. One falls asleep and drowns, but the other kicks so hard that eventually, he churns the milk into butter. “We can still hop,” thinks Lyddie.
Triphena’s promise “not to be a slave to any man” gestures to the way patriarchy entraps women—but it also again conflates, falsely, the experience of racial slavery with other experiences (like indentured servitude or marriage as a white woman). The hopping frog is a nice stand-in for Lyddie, who is similarly motivated to endure and make the best of a tough situation. And by linking that hopping to the “hop” (hope) from Mama’s letter, Lyddie arrives at the novel’s most central idea: through hope, even the worst situations can become positive ones.
Active
Themes
Autumn comes, and Lyddie realizes she no longer thinks much about Charlie or her other siblings. Even her favorite fantasy—that her father returns home, having become wealthy—no longer feels satisfying. Besides, the clientele at the tavern is different in the winter, all rich, silent gentleman. With ice in her voice, Triphena explains these are “slave catchers.”
Though Lyddie values her family and home greatly, the work is so intense and all-consuming that Lyddie cannot hold her loved ones close, even in memory. Triphena’s reference to the “slave catchers” points to the abhorrent Fugitive Slave Act, which dictated that those who had escaped enslavement could be captured and re-enslaved, even in states where slavery was illegal. In the years immediately preceding the Civil War, this practice was especially frequent and controversial.
Active
Themes
One day, Charlie surprises Lyddie with a visit. Lyddie notes that he seems older and happier; he explains that he likes working with the miller. Lyddie has so much she wants to tell Charlie, but she cannot find the words. Instead, she just asks about the house, and Charlie tells her that Luke has been by often to check on it. After Charlie goes, Lyddie feels even lonelier than before.
Active
Themes
Soon, a massive snowstorm hits Vermont, and the kitchen becomes crowded with men making maple syrup. Lyddie likes the company, and she listens with curiosity as the men debate about slavery. Triphena loathes this conversation, noting that these “fools […] don’t know what it’s like to be trapped.” Lyddie reflects that she has never seen a Black person—but that the 100-dollar bounty people get for reporting runaways would be enough to pay her family’s debts.
Get the entire Lyddie LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
