“riding the trains” pleasurably, perhaps encouraged by the many children’s books purporting this topic,“riding the trains” at the turn of the 19th century had a starkly different meaning for abandoned, orphaned or, in many cases, severely impoverished children. From 1854 - 1929, over 200,000 of these children from the Northeast were put on trains to the Midwest and Texas, where they were paraded in front of people at stops along the way, in search of families. The fictional book Orphan Train by Christina
Orphan Trains 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
Emilie Carr Dr. McMillan CASTU401-02 6 September 2017 Essay 1: The Orphan Trains The Orphan Trains were trains that took orphaned children from New York, a lot of whom were immigrants, and transported them to foster families all around rural America so that they would be off the streets and could live better lives. Some of the children that were brought onto the trains were not orphans, but were children who lived in extreme poverty as their parents were not able to properly care and provide
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
Sara Hughes—April 15th, 2015 Literary Analysis ENG 101—B503 Instructor: Diana Douglas Orphan Train Literary Analysis “Orphan Train”, written by Christina Baker Kline, is a novel telling the tales of two lives, Vivian Daly and Molly Ayer. Ninety-one year old Vivian, orphaned at a young age due to a tragic fire (19), explores her past when she encounters seventeen year old Molly, orphaned after her father’s death and her mother being thrown in jail. After getting caught attempting to
Orphan Train The New York Times bestseller story of Orphan Train, written by Christina Baker Kline, follows the experiences of the main character, Molly, a girl who wears a gothic mask to escape conflict with her classmates. The opening of the story sets up Molly as a social outcast and a nomad since she became an orphan, after her dad died in a car crash and her mother fell to drug addiction. Molly is a troubled foster child in Maine who is about to “age out” of the system (that is, she's becoming
Orphan Train, written by Christina Baker Kline, is a profoundly emotional tale of a young adolescent girl living in foster care. Molly Ayer is a 17-year-old teenage "orphan" (Kline, 2013). Despite Molly Ayer's mother still being alive; she is not emotionally stable enough to care for her after the loss of her husband in a tragic car accident. Molly Ayer reveals that she feels like an orphan to Vivian Daly, an older woman who shares many of the same experiences Molly has gone through in foster care
A Bond as Strong as Family In the novel Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline, we witness a relationship develop between Molly, a seventeen year old in the foster care system, and Vivian, a ninety-one year old widow that is looking to clean out her attic. As the book progresses, we see them grow closer through telling stories and bonding over their joint hardships. Kline goes out of her way to illustrate this strengthening friendship through many little hints in the novel to where she is ultimately
family. Niamh’s father has the idea to go to America and leave Ireland so they can replenish their family. Soon after the family comes to America everyone in Niamh’s family dies in a fire. She was only eight at the time. This takes the reader to the orphan train. The
removing all youngsters from the streets and placing them in farming families, they would have a better chance of escaping a lifestyle of suffering (Foster Care History). So, by sending all the children to the west in Midwest on a train called the Orphan Train. The Orphan Train lasted from 1853 up to the early 1900’s. This transported more than 120,000 children the better lives. Although many are you that there are no choices for these kids to truly take, with more people fostering, that gives kids more
into homes. In the mid 19th century, some 30,000 homeless or neglected children lived in New York City streets. Charles Loring Brace, the founder of the Children's Aid Society believed there was a way to change the futures of these children. The Orphan Train Movement lasted from 1853 to the early 1900s and transported more than 120,000 children to new lives. Foster Care matters to me because I was adopted and I went through the same struggles most foster kids go through. I am attending school to get
Project Nim In the movie, Project Nim, a newborn chimpanzee was taken from its mother. Both away from their natural habitat. The newborn chimpanzee, Nim, was raised by a family like a human baby. Under the expectations to pick up certain behaviors or sign languages. During the beginning of the film, Nim was still young; though almost signs of a wild animal were shown. He was just like a baby infant, “it’s an amazingly sweet, little new newborn baby, needy creature” (Jenny Lee), Nim was acting like
The Orphan Train: A Novel Everybody lives one life, but some they live many lives. Vivian Daly, in The Orphan Train by Christina Kline, has lived in numerous homes, had 3 different names, and countless life changing experiences in her many years. Niamh Power, Dorothy Nielsen, and lastly Vivian Daly these different characters vary everything from appearance to religious views. These different names make her who she is in life. Everyone of the names is more than just some letters, the changing of
The novel “The Orphan Train” written by Christina Baker Kline is a fictional portrayal of a young girl who migrated to America from Ireland, and found herself orphaned at the age of ten in New York City in the year 1929. The book tells the story of the pain and anguish she suffered, and the happiness she would later find. From the mid 1850’s through the early 1900’s there was an surge of European immigrants just like Niamh and her family who came to America in search of a better life. Unfortunately
Molly Ayer is a young, teenage orphan. She, like many orphans, bounces from house to house with no priceless memories from the foster homes. To escape her sentence of juvenile detention, Molly helps a widow by the name of Vivan to clean out her many possessions stored in her beloved mansion. In Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, Molly and Vivian find that they are not too different. “Orphan Train” is a very appropriate title for the story of two orphans connected by their lonely pasts. However
“I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside” (Kline 112). Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline sheds light on how young orphans such as Vivian and Molly feel compelled to change elements of their identity in order to fit in. Vivian Daly immigrates to America as a young girl with a thick accent, and an Irish name that is difficult to spell and pronounce. Furthermore, she never feels
who know that their offspring must be puny, suffering, neglected orphans, are still compelled to submit to maternity, and dying in childbirth, are their husbands ever condemned? Oh, no!” (2) Stemming from models developed in Rome under Marcus Aurelius and Florence’s Innocenti, orphans were first nursed by peasant women, then adopted or apprenticed by the time they were seven or eight years old (Simpson 136). Care of the orphans (and also the sick, the poor, the elderly, and the mentally ill) was
author. She addresses many things in her books and most of them have a deeper meaning to them than what we might see at first. It takes a little more than just a once over for us to understand what is truly hidden in the story behind her words. In “Orphan Train”, this is exactly case. In this book, Kline goes through a detailed account of two different stories; one of a teenage girl in 2011 and the other of a young girl from Ireland in the 1900’s. Both of these stories are of hardship and tragedy, and
Ride Home Imagine you're on a train to a place you don't know, with hundreds of other children riding with you. At the next stop you get off and hundreds of adults surround you. You hear them talking and mumbling but you cannot understand what they are saying. Some point at you and grab your arms to see your muscles. Complete strangers come over to examine you and scrutinize over whether to adopt you, one of the orphan train riders, into their homes. The orphan trains are a part of American history
Molly and Vivian’s Relationship In the novel Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline, we witness a relationship develop between Molly, a seventeen year old in the foster care system, and Vivian, a ninety-one year old widow that is looking to clean out her attic. As the book progresses, we see them grow closer through telling stories and bonding over their joint hardships. Kline goes out of her way to illustrate this strengthening friendship through many little hints in the novel. One way Kline shows