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Essay on orphan trains
Essays on the orphan train
The orphan train essay
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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
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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 …show more content…
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.
The Orphan Train is a compelling story about a young girl, Molly Ayer, and an older woman, Vivian Daly. These two live two completely different yet similar lives. This book goes back and forth between the point of views of Molly and Vivian. Molly is seventeen and lives with her foster parents, Ralph and Dina, in Spruce Harbor, Maine. Vivian is a ninety-one year old widow from Ireland who moved to the United States at a young age. Molly soon gets into trouble with the law and has to do community service. Molly’s boyfriend, Jack, gets his mom to get her some service to do. Jack’s mom allows her to help Vivian clean out her attic. While Molly is getting her hours completed, Vivian explains her past to her. Vivian tells her about all the good times and bad in her life. She tells her about how she had to take a train, the orphan train, all around the country after her family died in a fire. She told her about all the families she stayed with and all the friends she made along the way, especially about Dutchy. Dutchy is a boy she met on the orphan train and lost contact with for numerous years, but then found each other again and got married and pregnant. Sadly, Dutchy died when he was away in the army shortly after Vivian got pregnant. When Vivian had her child, she decided to give her up for adoption. Molly and Vivian grew very close throughout the time they spent together. Molly knows that Dina, her foster mother, is not very fond of her and tells her to leave. Having no place to go, Vivian let her stay at her house.
In the article Skin Deep written by Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin, they discuss and look deeper into the diverse differences in skin color. Our skin color has developed over the years to be dark enough to prevent the damaging sunlight that has been harming our skin and the nutrient folate that it carries. At the same time out skin is light enough to receive vitamin D.
As we know, Vivian gave up her only biological child and she jokes lightly in the book by saying, “I suppose this is why people have children, isn’t it? So somebody will care about the stuff they leave behind” (Kline 52). However later on, Vivian gives to Molly one of her prized possessions, the book Anne of Green Gables. This is a very important moment in their relationship because it is Vivian passing on a piece of herself to Molly and it shows that Vivian is starting to see Molly as more than a random girl. She may even see her as a pseudo daughter as in the end of the book she lets Molly stay with her instead of going to another foster home. Vivian has opened up greatly through out the story, but she only did so in reflection to Molly’s
Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.
The fourth Chapter of Estella Blackburn’s non fiction novel Broken lives “A Fathers Influence”, exposes readers to Eric Edgar Cooke and John Button’s time of adolescence. The chapter juxtaposes the two main characters too provide the reader with character analyses so later they may make judgment on the verdict. The chapter includes accounts of the crimes and punishments that Cooke contended with from 1948 to 1958. Cooke’s psychiatric assessment that he received during one of his first convictions and his life after conviction, marring Sally Lavin. It also exposes John Button’s crime of truancy, and his move from the UK to Australia.
Drifters by Bruce Dawe This poem is about a family that’s always on the move, with no place to settle down for long, hence the poem was titled ‘Drifters’ to describe this family. ‘Drifters’ looks at the members of this family response to frequently change and how it has affected them. This poem is told in third person narration in a conversational tone. This gives the feeling as if someone who knows this family is telling the responder the situation of this family.
After a basketball game, four kids, Andrew Jackson, Tyrone Mills, Robert Washington and B.J. Carson, celebrate a win by going out drinking and driving. Andrew lost control of his car and crashed into a retaining wall on I-75. Andy, Tyrone, and B.J. escaped from the four-door Chevy right after the accident. Teen basketball star and Hazelwood high team captain was sitting in the passenger's side with his feet on the dashboard. When the crash happened, his feet went through the windshield and he was unable to escape. The gas tank then exploded and burned Robbie to death while the three unharmed kids tried to save him.
In the book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz, the author followed the lives of two young brothers (Lafayette and Pharoah) while they grew up in the harsh streets of Chicago in the late 1980’s. The author uses the story of the two boys’ lives to discuss the social divide in our very own society and to persuade readers that there is a major problem in “the projects” of the United States.
Throughout a lifetime, one can run through many different personalities that transform constantly due to experience and growing maturity, whether he or she becomes the quiet, brooding type, or tries out being the wild, party maniac. Richard Yates examines acting and role-playing—recurring themes throughout the ages—in his fictional novel Revolutionary Road. Frank and April Wheeler, a young couple living miserably in suburbia, experience relationship difficulties as their desire to escape grows. Despite their search for something different, the couple’s lack of communication causes their planned move to Europe to fall through. Frank and April Wheeler play roles not only in their individual searches for identity, but also in their search for a healthy couple identity; however, the more the Wheelers hide behind their desired roles, the more they lose sense of their true selves as individuals and as a pair.
The childhood of Frances Piper consists of inadequate love, loss of innocence and lack of concern, ultimately leading to her disastrous life. As a six year old child, she encounters several traumatic events, explicitly the death of her loved ones and the loss of her innocence. Over the course of one week, there have been three deaths, two funerals and two burials in the Piper family. “Frances was crying so hard now that Mercedes got worried. ‘I want my Mumma to come ba-a-a-a-ack.’”( McDonald 174). As a young child, there is nothing more upsetting than losing a mother. A family is meant to comfort each other to fulfill the loss of a loved one; however, this is not the case in the Piper family. Mercedes, only a year older than Frances, tries to console her even though she herself is worried. The loss of motherly love and affection has a tremendous impact on her future since now her sole guardian, James, expresses no responsibility towards her. Instead, he molests Frances on the night of Kathleen’s funeral to lessen the grief of his lost daughter. As a result “These disturbing experiences plague Frances with overwhelming feelings of low self worth and guilt that haunt h...
Who is the birthday party a rite of passage for, the birthday boy or his mother?
Inside Toyland, written by Christine L. Williams, is a look into toy stores and the race, class, and gender issues. Williams worked about six weeks at two toy stores, Diamond Toys and Toy Warehouse, long enough to be able to detect patterns in store operations and the interactions between the workers and the costumers. She wanted to attempt to describe and analyze the rules that govern giant toy stores. Her main goal was to understand how shopping was socially organized and how it might be transformed to enhance the lives of workers. During the twentieth century, toy stores became bigger and helped suburbanization and deregulation. Specialty toy stores existed but sold mainly to adults, not to children. Men used to be the workers at toy stores until it changed and became feminized, racially mixed, part time, and temporary. As box stores came and conquered the land, toy stores started catering to children and offering larger selections at low prices. The box stores became powerful in the flip-flop of the power going from manufacturers to the retailers. Now, the retail giants determine what they will sell and at what price they will sell it.
We have all heard the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The response given by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, simply states, “If you’ve got a village. But if you don’t, then maybe it just takes two people” (Donoghue 234). For Jack, Room is where he was born and has been raised for the past five years; it is his home and his world. Jack’s “Ma” on the other hand knows that Room is not a home, in fact, it is a prison. Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story but give significance as well. The Point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and atmosphere not only affect the characters but evokes emotion and gives the reader a mental picture of their lives, and the impacting theme along-side with conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.