Ruthie and other characters experience fear throughout Lucky Broken Girl. The car accident and its associated imagery—ambulances, emergency workers, sirens, a woman “tangled up in metal” (42), and a man’s mention of the dead—leave Ruthie with a dread and fear of what will happen next; at the hospital, she hears the sounds of pain and fear around her as she waits “on a stretcher moaning and crying too” (43). Ruthie wakes alone after the first night in the hospital, not knowing where her family members are or when she will see them again. Later, Ruthie’s parents and family show fear and uncertainty as Dr. Friendlich explains the need for Ruthie’s surgery and full body cast. The awkward and uncomfortable conditions associated with Ruthie’s plight set the tone throughout the early parts of the book; she feels anxious, hopeless, and burdensome. She keeps a flashlight for nighttime, because “The scariest time is the deepest deep of night” (88).

Ruthie soon devises a tent-like set up with her sheet and flashlight that helps her to control her fear as she repeats a self-soothing mantra: “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to be fine” (89). This action establishes Ruthie’s capability to work through fear.