The bear that enters the Worthen cabin is the catalyst for Lyddie’s eventual loss of her family’s farm, and the reader learns about Lyddie through the way she responds to the bear. She is calm and resolute, while her mother reacts emotionally. Lyddie instructs her family to proceed up the ladder to the attic, staring down the bear and maintaining eye contact until she can climb the ladder herself. Her success in handling the confrontation with this dangerous and unpredictable animal serves as an inspiration and affirmation to her when she faces future challenges. The image of the bear repeats throughout the novel, symbolizing difficult obstacles that Lyddie must overcome with courage and determination. When she returns to her cabin and realizes there is someone else there, she reflects, “It was her house, after all, and what was one measly man, black or white, compared to a bear?” (39).

When she awakens on her first night at the boardinghouse, in the grogginess after a long night of sleep, Lyddie thinks that she is back in the cabin. “At first she thought it was the bear, clanging the oatmeal pot against the furniture, but then the tiny attic came alive with girls” (52).