Themes And Summary In Orphan Train By Kristina Baker Kline

Experiencing further unstable environments, these children are forced to move from one foster home to another. They rarely develop meaningful relationships and constantly endure lack of care and protection by adults. Sabreen, another gifted student, was able to excel in school despite her unstable environments. She, too, became a ward of the county battling to find a stable home, constantly being placed in unstable environments, environments that do not encourage any achievement. When her situation becomes untenable, she goes AWOL, like Olivia, refusing to return to county supervision. Corwin masterfully frames the problem that wards, like Olivia and Sabreen, face when they feel that going back into the system is not an option. The additional struggles can be seen through Olivia and Sabreen accepting jobs with long hours in order to make enough to pay their bills. The responsibility on taking care of themselves financially detracts from their studies, which quickly can become a vicious, never-ending cycle.

We first see Jane; vulnerable and lonely at Gateshead, where the orphaned little girl resides with her bitter widowed aunt and her children. Jane is sent to the ‘Red Room’ for retaliating when her

Discover Yourself Through Others The book Orphan Train, written by Christina Baker Kline, explores the life of a teenage outcast named Molly and reveals how Molly’s relationship with an elderly widow helps her understand herself. Molly lost both of her parents at a young age and spent most of her teen years in foster care. After stealing a book from a bookstore, Molly must do community service. She chooses to help an old woman named Vivian clean out her attic.

In Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline weaves a strong friendship between two characters, Vivian and Molly, despite a lengthy list of differences. The most blatant contrast, and the root cause of many other differences, is age and the separate eras both Vivian and Molly grow up in. In the span of her life, Vivian Nielsen, a ninety-one year old widow, experiences the Great Depression, World War II, and a technology boom impossible to keep up with. On the other hand, Molly Ayer is a sixteen year old tech-savvy foster child who uses “her Goth persona like armor” against an unsympathetic society (Kline 4). Another dissimilarity is ethnicity. Vivian is a first generation Irish immigrant and in being a Penobscot Native American Indian, Molly is unable to be more different than Vivian. While these differences seem apparent, the

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

Ellen finds a woman at church that takes in orphan girls, but will there be any room for her? Will it just end up being another misunderstanding, like with her aunt, who was under the assumption that she would just be visiting for a few days. It is Ellen’s determination which eventually lands her a place in a loving home, with loving companionship.

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

Sonny has a “rough” time where he finds himself in “jail” for “narcotics trafficking” (208). Skloot reveals how not having a guardian and guidance leads someone to turn to occupations they would have never committed to before. Also, she emphasizes how authority is needed in a child so they may stay in the right path of life. Also, Deborah becomes so upset she cries out for help: “‘...Just being sad and crying to myself..Why, Lord, did you take my mother when I needed her so much?’” (218). Deborah changed from a happy child to someone in desperate need of a parent when she lost her mother. Skloot reveals how the requisite fostering of a parent lifts the children up in awful

Ann Fessler tells about her personal experiences with adoption during the 1950s and 60s in the beginning of the book. The author writes about herself being adopted and dealing with the difficult reality of finding her birth mother. Within the first couple of pages, Fessler says, “My adoptive mother and father were offered very little information about my biological parents.”(2) and “...after forty years of life as an adoptee I was hearing the other side of the story for the first time.”(3). Fessler explaining her past and her personal experience with adoption is one of her examples that give her ethos. Fessler was never given the chance to meet her birth mother which shows again how the lack of control caused these women's situations to worsen. After having the credibility to tell these girls’ stories, Fessler continued to bring the issue to light.

She was the main character trying to shape her daughter’s image, she strongly believed that women belonged in the house, just like the rest of the society in the early 1900s. The narrator's mother looked forward to the day when she could “use her [daughter] more in the house” (5), after she discussed how Laird was getting older. The mother was against the idea of women helping out with a man’s job, such as working in the barn or helping out with the pelting operation, for “she was plotting now to get me to stay in the house more, although she knew I hated it” (5). The mother showed both irritation and displeasure due to her daughter always running off when she asked for help in the house, she said, "I just get my back turned and she runs off. It's not like I had a girl in the family at all" (5). Along with direct characterization, Munro released small hints about the mother’s emotions through her daughter’s dialogue and thoughts. The girl did not realize “that [her mother] could be lonely, or jealous” (5). Additionally, when the mother walked into the barn “she looked out of place” (4). This statement used the character’s actions to show how the mother disliked participating in outdoor responsibilities. Overall, the mother felt disrespected and she wanted her daughter to fulfill duties in the house, rather than

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.

Between 1854 and 1930, the emigration program saw around 200,000 children relocated (Batista & Johnson, 2017). This program is known today as the “Orphan Train”. The name comes from the type of transport used to move the children.

In “Invisible Child,” a New York Times article written by Andrea Elliot, we follow a day in the life of a young African American girl, Dasani, growing up in New York City. However, instead of living in an “Empire State of Mind,” Dasani lives in the slums, growing up homeless with her two drug addicted parents and seven siblings. Dasani often finds herself taking care of her siblings, making sure they have enough to eat, tying shoelaces, changing diapers, getting them to the bus stop in time, and the list goes on. An 11 year old girl, essentially taking care of a whole family, as well as taking care of herself by going to school, receiving an education, and partaking in extra-curricular activities. Elliot captures the life and struggles of a family well under the poverty line, giving us an unprecedented look into what Dasani must do each day not just to grow up in New York City, but to survive.

As the novel progresses, Vivian reveals more of her complex character and distinctive ability. Vivian’s plots are complexly woven, and her lies have a direct purpose: to protect Carmen. She even has a strong sense of fairness, holding up her end of Eddie Mars’s deal and upholding Marlowe’s moral standards. Later on in the novel, Vivian maintains her initial struggle for independence, but begins to succumb to Marlowe’s overpowering strength and ability.