Margaret Atwood Orphan Train Quotes

“When you're young, you think everything you do is disposable. You move from now to now, crumpling time up in your hands, tossing it away. You're your own speeding car. You think you can get rid of things, and people too—leave them behind. You don't yet know about the habit they have, of coming back. Time in dreams is frozen. You can never get away from where you've been.” -(Margaret Atwood) In the book, Orphan Train, this is a repetitive affair that happens invariably to too many individuals in the novel, some of them being the main characters. The main characters, Vivian and Molly, lavishly struggle to free themselves from their past, but over time they learn to accept the past as a part of themselves and the making of who they became as

Niamh and her family move to America due to poverty and financial problems, hoping to find a better life. However, after their arrival, they realize American culture in the 1920s was horrible, due to the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, towns were filthy and crowded, and there were a lot of homeless and unemployed people. One night, Niamh and her family’s apartment caught fire. Shortly after the fire, at only 9 years old, Vivian is told that her family has passed away, thus making her an orphan. From there one, she has learned to care and look out for

Dorothy’s experience at their home was terrible, she slept in the hallway, she did not attend school, was treated terribly, and she always did housework. Consequently, Dorothy gets a social worker and she is then sold to the Grotes’ family of seven. Dorothy develops a great relationship with Mr. Grote, but it turns out he was only using Dorothy to his benefit. One night while Dorothy is asleep, she is woken up by Mr. Grote, he makes excuses about how he isn’t able to go to sleep and he needs someone to talk to, sadly he then raped Dorothy. After Dorothy is raped, she is then kicked out of their home, thus making her have to find a new family. But, shortly after, Dorothy’s social worker places her in the Nielsen's’ family of two, and they then name her Vivian. Vivian’s experience with this family was great, the parents loved Vivian as if Vivian was their own child. Overall, these examples of Vivian’s life show that she did not have the best childhood, and these memories, after almost 80 years are unforgettable, and will always haunt