In the mid-19th century, New York and other American cities were full of street children and orphans. In 1853, The Children’s Aid Society began a program known as The Orphan Train Movement (Gajda-Łaszewska, 2018). Orphans, mostly immigrants whose parents died, were grouped, put on trains, and transported until they were placed in foster families. At each station, the farmers could evaluate them and choose free labor. The Orphan Train is a touching story of two protagonists with the age difference of seventy-five years who lost their parents. This difference between them, which could be an obstacle to understanding, becomes insignificant. The Orphan Train is a personal story intertwined with US history, representing a dream of finding a home, family happiness, and a sense of belonging.
It may seem that seventeen-year-old orphan Molly and ninety-year-old wealthy old lady Vivian Daly have nothing in common. However, these two ladies have a similar life experience, which unites them. Friendly relations have no social framework, age restrictions, or other obstacles. Vivian’s life was full of sufferings and wanderings, but it eventually gave her a beloved husband and wealth. Memories and longing for the Motherland were all that she had (Kline & Almasy, 2013). Vivian let ghosts from the past that haunted her memories replace living people. When she was lonely, her memories helped her feel a sense of belonging. She survived by holding onto the best reminiscence of her parents, her sister, and her love, who made her continue her life journey.
After Molly, an Indian teenage girl with thickly painted eyes and a sad look appeared on the doorstep of Vivian Daly’s home, the old lady’s life had changed. Molly’s job was to help Mrs. Daly disassemble old things in an abandoned upper room (Kline & Almasy, 2013). Along with the dusty, preserved attic, Vivian opened secrets that she was keeping under lock for a long time. Being a child of Irish immigrants, she was orphaned after her parents died during a fire (Kline & Almasy, 2013). She was chosen by a heartless married couple who mercilessly used her as free labor. This marked the beginning of her sufferings and exile that affected her future. Molly had a similar fate since she was also orphaned as a child and lived in foster families. Such life deprived her of confidence, so she tried to hide behind the image of a goth girl. Molly becomes a window into the future for Vivian, while Vivian is a door into the past for Molly.
Socio-economic influence played an important role in the lives of Vivian and Molly. Due to the social and economic issues, children were left neglected, which has changed their destinies. Both girls lost their fathers and had institutionalized mothers; both were sent from family to family and faced cultural and social stereotypes. They were relocated because they were from vulnerable families of immigrants. Two main characters, separated by circumstances and time, shared the same things. From early childhood, they had to adapt to new families and new identities. They learned how to survive and avoid complications by being silent about their past, and had enough courage to make significant changes to their lives. Both girls rarely felt wanted, suffered from detachment and loneliness (Kline & Almasy, 2013). Vivian lived in permanent fear of being abandoned, and even when she found a home, she kept on living in this fear. Similarly, Molly had trouble making friends among her peers, feeling herself a stranger everywhere. Unlike Vivian, Molly did not find an adoptive family; she bounced between foster families during her childhood (Kline & Almasy, 2013). Only when she met Vivian, she finally felt a sense of love, belonging, and connection. Religion had an important impact on the characters’ lives as well. They had different views on God since Vivian believed while Molly did not, but in the end, religion gave the orphans hope for a better future. Both girls ended up exactly where they were supposed to be. They knew that destiny operated their lives, and their fate was in God’s hands, even when it seemed like everything was going wrong.
Vivian’s and Molly’s stories are closely intertwined with the period of the history of the United States. For a long time, the Orphan Train Movement was considered a successful charity project, a symbol of liberation and personal involvement in business activities for the poorest segments of society (Engel et al., 2018). However, in her novel The Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline showed the unsightly side of this movement. For many participants, it turned out to be another form of slavery (Devine, 2018). Instead of love, many children faced cold calculation, self-interest, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Orphans were displayed for sale in the slave market, so that foster families could take children for a trial period and then return them (Engel et al., 2018). The adopted children turned out to be officially registered personal slaves who worked on the farms.
The treatment of orphans has significantly changed over the past one hundred years. Until the middle of the 20th century, most American orphans were under the care of the state and lived in orphanages (Trejos-Castillo & Trevino-Schafer, 2018). However, such a system of educational institutions was considered ineffective. Of course, children are still left without parents, may become orphans, or be abandoned and end up on the street. However, today, after the authorities confirm the fact that a particular child is left without a family, a special department decides his or her fate. The Department of Children and Family Services finds a foster family in the shortest possible time where the child is taken care of and provided with everything needed (Trejos-Castillo & Trevino-Schafer, 2018). The time of stay in a foster family is determined primarily by the desire of the child. It happens that, due to various circumstances, the family does not suit the child, and then the question of transferring him to another, more suitable family is decided.
Christina Baker Kline has revived the forgotten pages of US history in her book The Orphan Train. Two main characters, Molly and Vivian, despite the age difference, have much in common. Their lives are full of suffering, betrayed dreams, but also unexpected kindness and a sense of belonging. On the one hand, the sad story of wanderings evokes sympathy by touching the subtle strings of the soul. On the other hand, it is a sincere novel, imbued with the warmth of human relations and hope for a better future. The book is full of interesting comparisons, memories, and thoughts that everything happens for a reason.
References
Devine, J. B. (2018). Fostering on the farm: Child placement in the rural Midwest by Megan Birk. Middle West Review, 4(2), 97-99.
Engel, M. H., Phillips, N. K., & Della Cava, F. A. (2018). Forced migration and immigration programs for children: The emergence of a social movement. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 26(3), 468-488.
Gajda-Łaszewska, M. (2018). Securing homes: Orphan trains as a way of curing ills of the late 19th century America. Kultura Popularna, 58(04), 28-38.
Kline, C. B., & Almasy, J. (2013). Orphan train. William Morrow.
Trejos-Castillo, E., & Trevino-Schafer, N. (Eds.). (2018). Handbook of foster youth. Routledge.