American Experience: The Orphan Train

Orphan Train a novel by Christina Baker Kline is a beautiful story about a seventeen year old girl named Molly Ayer who has lived in a foster home since she was nine and a ninety-one year old lady named Vivian who accepts Molly into her home and shares her life story with her for a school project. This story shows the hardship, friendship, and loneliness about the two girls and the connection with each other. The story behind the book goes back to the year 1854 when over 200,000 orphans were sent on a train to provide free labor which is the actual meaning of the orphan train. The author based the story on an orphan and the readers can see the connection between the book and the event of the real orphan train, the theme in the story of how the actual Orphan Train was, and the type of setting due to the incidents in the story compared to the real event.

Are we expectant, are we living in a dream, or are we simply not prepared? After reading this book, I think the biggest question you should ask yourself is, would I be prepared mentally if something drastic changed my life. In the book, there are many examples of tragedies and hardships. From losing family to not being sure what to do next with life. Therefore, that is how the real world and this book are very much alike.

Orphan trains and Carlisle and the ways people from the past undermined the minorities and children of America. The film "The orphan Trains" tells us the story of children who were taken from the streets of New York City and put on trains to rural America. A traffic in immigrant children were developed and droves of them teamed the streets of New York (A People's History of the United States 1492-present, 260). The streets of NYC were dirty, overcrowded, and dangerous. Just as street gangs had female auxiliaries, they also had farm leagues for children (These are the Good Old Days, 19). During the time of the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were trying to help children. Progressive reformers, often called

Do you know how orphans were treated in the past? Probably not, and that’s why the book Orphan Train should be selected by the city of Ottawa Hills as a novel for the residents of all ages and backgrounds to read. Orphan Train is about two women who live similar lives. The one situation that made their lives different, was the time when they were considered orphans. Although not everyone likes the same books, Orphan Train should be selected by the city of Ottawa Hills because it is important to know how children were treated back then vs now.

as free of sorrow as Mr. Vaughn contends. Laura and Elizabeth are asked to play the

Between 1854 and 1929 the United States was engaged in an ambitious, and ultimately controversial, social experiment to rescue poor and homeless children, the Orphan Train Movement. The Orphan Trains operated prior to the federal government’s involvement in child protection and child welfare. While they operated, Orphan Trains moved approximately 200,000 children from cities like New York and Boston to the American West to be adopted. Many of these

The Orphan Train movement provided many children with homes during a very difficult time. Many of these children were loved and treated very well, but many were not. Many children were separated from parents and siblings for the remainder of their

Starting in the 1850s, there were great increases in urbanization. Movements such as The Great Migration lead to huge populations in newly industrialized cities. In addition, there was a great increase in immigration, especially from families of eastern and southern European descent. The Orphan Train Movement’s purpose was to give the thousands of children in New York City that were left without homes due to increased urbanization and industrialization a new family out west with good living conditions and values and to increase the number of farm workers. The children mostly were placed with good families, but some children were treated as slaved by their families. Additionally, most of the children were excited to work; however, some were

In her book, The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction, Linda Gordon argues that the events of October 1904 in Clifton-Morenci, and the Supreme Court’s case that followed, were to blame for the development of a more obvious racial hierarchy in the US’southwestern states. The events covered in this book include the New York Foundling Hospital’s use of orphan trains to attempt to place New York orphans with Catholic families in Arizona, the Anglo-Protestant community’s negative reaction to the NYFH’s process, and the legal battle which resulted from this. To support her argument, Gordon illustrates the three way battle of motives between the sisters sent by the NYFH, the Mexican adopters, and the Anglo kidnappers of 1904 Arizona.

The book, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins depicts the story of a hopeless divorced alcoholic Rachel Watson who rides the train daily, attentively watching those who live in the houses along the track. Every day she passes by what once was her house and envies the new life of her ex-husband. In addition she fabricates a life of another family down the street. Hawkins’ emotional diction and imagery further conveys the effects addiction has on Rachel’s daily life and others.

An orphans worst fear is abandonment and goal is safety, when your family is torn apart your worst fear has come true. So as a way to cope twelve year old Erica wished on her birthday for a perfect family, something I still wish for every year. “She’s talking to angles, she’s counting the stars / Making a wish on a passing car” Since then having a poster family is what I have always wished for with pennies in fountains, a wishbones on thanksgiving, and even on shooting stars because as an orphan that is my goal of life is to be the average family of four that everyone thinks is

One major external conflict that arises constantly throughout this book is the hatred and abuse that adults show towards Oliver. From the very beginning he was mishandled and underfed, with his caretaker Mrs. Mann keeping the majority of the money given to her by the church for herself. Even after he escapes the malnourishment and beatings with Mann, he winds up being taken to the parochial orphanage where he still is given no food. When the kids pick him to ask for more, he winds up being punished with six months of solitary confinement, only being let out to be publicly flogged as an example for the rest of the orphans and to listen to them pray never to ever be as wretched and sinful as he was. The officials there clearly don’t care for

I believe that Christina Baker Kline wrote Orphan Train to give insight on the little known fact that, from 1854 to 1929, orphans were placed onto a train and shipped around the United States to prospective parents. Kline was trying to bring upon the point of social injustice and welfare that humans endured during that time. “You’re not allowed to bring keepsakes with you on the train.’ ‘It’s- It’s the only thing I have left” (27). During the process of Niamh being adopted; “I’ll be honest with you.

Orphan Train is a novel about Molly and Vivian, who spend time together and share their life experiences. Molly is a 17-year-old girl, a Penobscot Indian who is aging out of the foster care system, and her improbable friendship with a 91-year-old woman named Vivian, an Irish immigrant child that rode an orphan train. Vivian is born Niamh, who is renamed Dorothy and renamed name again to Vivian as she is left by herself in New York after her family dies in a fire. She is taken in by Children's Aid Society and sent west on an Orphan Train to find a new home. Molly is put into the foster care system after her dad died in a car accident and her mother turned

The story begins on a perfect, bright Sunday afternoon. A father and son wave goodbye to the mother who is preparing supper, and they head into the woods to enjoy the sounds of the birds and adventure along the railroad tracks. As the young boy and his father are admiring nature, a train comes rushing along the tracks. His father saluted the familiar conductor and settled back into the peacefulness of the afternoon. As dusk begins to fall, the child becomes uneasy about being in the darkening woods. The young boy’s fear grows, but his father remains calm and continues on. Then out of nowhere a mighty roar of a black train tore through the abyss startling the two out of their quiet state. The train pierced the night at a frantic speed and the father tells his son that he did not recognize the driver. At this moment, the boy’s perspective on his father and life in general forever changes.