While most modern day children view “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 Baker Kline recounts a traumatic story of Vivian, an orphan train rider while weaving in and comparing the current day issues of Molly, a girl in foster care. The nonfiction book We Rode the Orphan Trains by Andrea Warren, however, highlights the true …show more content…
Both books add to each other to influence the reader’s understanding of orphan trains. The reader should read Orphan Train followed by We Rode the Orphan Trains because the former adds emotion to the historical events in the latter.
By reading Orphan Train first, the reader can apply the emotions Vivian feels to the characters in We Rode the Orphan Trains, facilitating the emotional connection to the characters. For instance, in one short story from We Rode the Orphan Trains, Warren describes the lives of three siblings, whose birth mother abused them. When asked if the death of the children’s sister may have prompted this abuse, the author explains, “Nettie isn’t sure and neither Leon nor Nellie would talk about it while they were alive.” (Warren 33) The resistance to share their thoughts on their mother’s abuse proves that Leon and Nellie were still wounded by their mother’s treatment and/ or their sister’s death. However, Warren neglects to go into further detail on the effect their rough childhoods had on their future. On the other hand, Kline, the author of Orphan Train, repeatedly
A pivotal point in the journey of Mrs. Wells came in 1883 when she was physically removed from a first-class train car by a white train conductor who was attempting to enforce the Sou...
...re the reader is not able to make any solid connection with any of these characters. It is arguably only through the stories foreshadowing where both authors prepare us with little details like the mileage of the car written down by the grandmother in O’Connor’s story likewise the boys preparation of the stones in Jackson’s Lottery that would inevitably help the reader to comprehend how both these author’s reached the horrifically shocking climatic endings in both short stories. I believe the authors similar use of these three variables help the reader to understand the message being delivered through these stories of the human condition and its effects on a society that only embraces its traditional moral beliefs and values.
The first character the book introduces to the reader to is Rorschach, Walter Joseph Kovacs, one of the main characters. Rorschach reveals his past and why he wears a mask on page eleven. Walter’s past is revealed in chapter six when he is examined by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist gives Walter ink blots and his first vision is of his mother and a man. Also on chapter six, the reader, see that his mother was a prostitute who worked out of her home. Her reasons for practicing prostitution appear when she interacts with Walter. On page four of chapter six, Walter walked into his mother’s bedroom while she was entertaining a man. As soon as his mother realizes he is watching she hits him across the face. "You little shit! You know what you cost me, you ugly little shit. I shoulda listened to everybody else! I shoulda had the abortion." (Pg.4, chap.6, panel 6-7) Walter’s mother did’nt hesitate to physically or verbally abuse him. Her first reaction was to punch him in the face. This reflects the issue of a chain of a abuse. Walter’s mother was probably abused in more ways than one by her parents. Through her behavior of name calling and the rage she portrays it is most likely she was subjected to the same as a child. She basically told Walter that she didn’t want him and regretted having him. She neglects Walter of attention and love, just as she was by her parents. Both Walter and his mother are dealing with issues of neglect and a craving for attention. As a prostitute, we see on page three in chapter six Walter’s mother substitutes sex for love, attention, beauty, and care. She begs her male friend to stay, "Oh baby, please, listen. he’s kinda backwards. Please don’t get mad." She begs the man to stay because having sex makes her feel beautiful because the men want her and touch her. In chapter 6 on page three she says, "Oh you’re hurting me." She says this to her male customer, she did not make him ...
The war time childhood events Penny and Primrose encounter result in psychological traumas such as parental abandonment. These two girls in particular endure psychological trauma of isolation, neglect, and displacement that begins when the two girls begin walking with the other children to climb aboard the train. The two young friends set off at the ...
The book is sectioned into three sections. The three sections were the stories of three kids, who were going through the same tragedy but in there view. I liked the way she did this because not only gave you a detailed look through one child, but you go to experience the knowledge of three different children and what they thought. It makes it possible for more people to be able to relate to this book.
The Great American Orphan Abduction is a compelling story that exploits economic, religious, racial, and gender issues in the early 20th century. It follows the story of forty Irish-Catholic orphans from New York being adopted by Mexicans in a small Arizona mining town. These children were considered ulcers to society in the city and were mostly children whose parents were too poor to care for them. The Foundling had visions of a better future for the children out in Arizona. Orphan trains transported the children West and were facilitated by their Catholic nun caretakers. Both racial and gender factors led to posses kidnapping the children from their new homes. The Anglo townspeople did not like the idea of white children being placed in non-white homes. The Arizona Territorial Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Anglos in the trial that followed. Their reasoning was that allowing white children to be adopted by Mexicans was equal to child abuse. Gordon’s analysis shows that women were not as passive in public affairs as some would assume. Mexican women adopted the children, and Anglo women had a hand in the kidnapping and mob activity. Gordon spotlights lessons showing that women had a role in separating racial boundaries. The tragedy of the
Listening to a child’s viewpoint in today’s world is one technique to fully understand what they are thinking about and why they would be thinking about it. These children are having a horde of thoughts streaming through their mind with the foster children transitioning into a new home and receiving a new family. Although, the foster child is not the only one feeling anxious about the switch into another home but the f...
The narrator, Twyla, begins by recalling the time she spent with her friend, Roberta, at the St. Bonaventure orphanage. From the beginning of the story, the only fact that is confirmed by the author is that Twyla and Roberta are of a different race, saying, “they looked like salt and pepper” (Morrison, 2254). They were eight-years old. In the beginning of the story, Twyla says, “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick.” This line sets the tone of the story from the start. This quote begins to separate the two girls i...
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 first the responsibility of the church, but with increased legislation, the responsibility gradually fell under the state (Simpson 137). Pennsylvania passed such a “poor law” in 1705, establishing an “Overseer of the Poor” for each township. Each overseer was responsible for finding funds for children and more commonly, for finding positions of servitude or apprenticeship (7). Such a model of short-term care followed by adoption, apprenticeship, or indentured servitude became the standard for dealing with orphaned children. The development of specific orphanages or child asylums, however, did not come until later in the nineteenth century. Orphaned children were first treated in almshouses, first established in Philadelphia in 1731 (7). Poorhouses, workhouses, and almshouses, all essentially the same institution, housed both adults and children without homes. Residents were seen as nearly free sources of labor, working in sweatshops or nearby mines in the case of several British poorhouses (5).
Horn, Pamela. (1994). Children’s Work and Welfare, 1780-1880’s. Houndsmills, Basingshtoke, Hampshire, London: The MacMillion Press.
The Children’s Aid Society in 1854 developed the Orphan Train program a predecessor to foster care. Charles Loring Brace believed that this would give children the chance of a good life by giving them the opportunity to live with “morally standing farm families”(Warren,
Two Trains Running, set in 1969, is August Wilson's most contemporary play to date. Like most of his plays, it unfolds in a single location--a diner in Pittsburgh. Memphis, the diner's owner, is struggling to get a fair price from the city which is buying up the entire eighborhood for purposes of urban renewal. Memphis' observation that the neighborhood has been emptied of its commercial and human activities gives an ironic and grim spin to urban renewal in particular and the progress of African Americans general.
The Victorian Era was a time of social evolution as well as technological and economic advance. A distinct, unique middle class was formed alongside the traditional working class and wealthy aristocracy. However, there were certain individuals that fell outside this model of Victorian society. The “abandoned child” was society’s scapegoat- a person without a past, without connections, without status. They could appear in any class, at any time. The upper and middle classes often had a somewhat romantic perception of them, due to their prevalence in Victorian literature. Novels like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights made heroines/heroes out of orphans, portraying them as respectable yet troubled (Cunningham,“Orphan Texts”). However, orphans were also often treated with disdain and distrust, due to their reputation as “criminally prone” individuals. They were a victim of classic “Victorian contradictions” that characterized most aspects of Victorian society.
...satisfied and comforted. People in the tail section were utterly exhausted and lost their hope after experiencing a host great turmoil. The most serious and crucial problem I found in the movie is that a manager from the head section regularly visits the rear section and take some children with her. In the latter half of the movie clearly demonstrates how the children are being ‘abused’ with several purposes. Immature children with short stature go into the engine, the heart of the train, and modulate the saw teeth not to be mingled with each other. At the place where they have to lower their heads and close their legs, the innocent children were being sacrificed for the unknown people. Children with pure spirits became the victims of the pleasure and fortune of the greatest number of people. Who on earth would pledge the rights of the children and their parents?
Remembering the good old days of my childhood this Christmas, I have written a story about my Godfather Federico Platard de Quenin and “ The girl of the train”. The story is a tribute to my beloved grandmothers CARMELITA and LOLA.