Orphan Train By Christina Baker Kline

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 too old for the system to continue accommodating). Molly’s experiences with others as the plot develops helps progress the main theme of Orphan Train: The bond made between Molly and the old lady Vivian within the story help them overcome challenges

that arise.
Molly, of Penobscot Indian descent, lives with malicious Dina and shy Ralph, Dina keeping her around in order to keep receiving the government payments she receives for fostering Molly.

However, that is how the relationship is since Dina refuses to acknowledge Molly’s wants and beliefs. Molly recognizes that every topic Dina and her talk about is always dominated by Dina’s overwhelming opinion, even on dinner choices, she continually forced to eat foods with meat in them “... because Dina refuses to recognize she is vegetarian”(Kline 48) and Molly is forced to eat mixed dishes such as lasagna and thus would eat very little. This tension prompts that Molly is never at ease in her foster home since she is always clashing with Dina on a regular basis, it doesn’t help that Molly’s values are quite liberal and Dina is a conservative at

heart.
One day, Molly steals a book and as punishment, she is sentenced to perform fifty hours of community service. Molly's boyfriend Jack comes up with a plan for filling those hours: Jack's mother, Terry, is the housekeeper for elderly Vivian, who lives in a large and lonely house and whose attic needs cleaning. Seeing the situation as an opportunity for relatively light work, Molly agrees to clean out and organize the attic. Though upon meeting Vivian, who was an orphan herself, Molly soon realizes that the work is easier said than done since”... the attic is filled with boxes and furniture”(Kline 52) and with Molly’s work schedule of 2 hours of work a day for four days and 4 total hours on the weekend, the work may never get done in her 50 hour service. But as the work continues, Molly and good old Vivian strike up a relationship, even messing with each other like Vivian saying”... I like your enthusiasm. Maybe I’ll let your empty out a box today. Or two, if you’re lucky”(Kline 93).
As the story of Molly's relationship with Vivian develops in the present day, its events are paralleled by the story of Vivian's experiences in Depression-era Minnesota. That story begins with Vivian's Irish family coming to New York through Ellis Island. While struggling to make ends meet,with Vivian’s da finding a job as a dishwasher at a local pub and her mom unable to work because of sickness, Vivian experiences another swell of hope as the family tries to get by in the slums of New York. However the “good times” didn’t last, one night the youngest child is continuously crying and Vivian tries to silence her, but later, Vivian realizes Maisie “...was like a canary in a mine, warning us of danger that the rest of us could not see”(Kline 23). The novel explains that a fire had started in the hotel, which left Vivian an orphan. As a result, Vivian is sent on an “orphan train” in the hope that somewhere, she will find a family to take her in. While on the train with several other orphans in similar circumstances, she meets an older boy, Dutchy. As Vivian explains the story, she states that they developed a friendship and promised to find each other in the future.
Vivian is eventually placed with the cruel Mrs. Byrne, who runs a clothing shop where Vivian makes her way sewing clothes. This situation comes to an end with the stock market crash of 1929 in which Mrs. Byrne and her husband lose their wealth. Vivian is next placed with the poor, filthy, and despicable Grote family. Mrs. Grote is a shut-in who hardly gets out of bed, and Mr. Grote is a do-nothing. Vivian's time with the Grotes ends when Mr. Grote attempted to rape her. Mrs. Grote blames Vivian for the incident and kicks her out into the cold. Rescued by her teacher, Miss Larsen, Vivian is placed first with the kindly Mrs. Murphy, and finally with Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen, who own a general store and who allow Vivian to introduce several new innovations.
Several years later, Vivian has a chance reunion with Dutchy. Shortly after they fall in love and get married, Dutchy is drafted into World War II where he dies on the Pacific Front. Vivian has Dutchy's baby but is too emotionally devastated to care for it, so she gives it up for adoption, keeping the story and its accompanying shame secret throughout the subsequent decades of her life. Meanwhile, Vivian marries Dutchy's best friend from the army, Jim Daly(which is kinda awkward), and makes a comfortable life for herself.
This narrative unfolds at the same time as the present day story develops, describing how Molly goes through some difficulties of her own, but at the same time develops a connection with Vivian that gives her support, refuge, and comfort.

When she is kicked out of her foster home by the cruel Dina, Molly is taken in by Vivian, who eventually allows Molly to interview her as part of her work on an American history assignment for her school. Molly also introduces Vivian to the Internet and encourages her to seek out her long-lost daughter. At the end of the novel, Vivian has an in-person encounter with that daughter that she has so long left behind: Sarah Dunnell, who is sixty-nine and a musician, just like her father, Dutchy. That encounter, the narrative suggests, would never have taken place if Vivian and Molly, initially wary of other people in general and of each other in particular, had not let down their defenses and been vulnerable with themselves and each

other.
The story of Orphan Train is one of connection and of prevailing over challenges. The bond between Vivian and Molly caused them to open up to one another to help each other. This story covered the perspectives of two orphans from different time periods, but had similar challenges. Kline did exceptionally well when dealing with the audience’s attention, keeping the audience to feel empathy for the tragic events, and draws them closer to the characters, using figurative language, and emotional appeals in her writing. Orphan Train was an exceptional novel, teaching those who read it, what the true meaning of perseverance means.