Historical Elements In Dennis Baker's Orphan Train

The story is engorged with historical elements for analysis. The title of the book Orphan Train, foreshadows the plot from its outset. Its title identifies with sadness the lack of parents throughout the book, meaning a need of extreme independency from the child. Furthermore, it is safe to argue that the story prepares the readers for a journey of self-discovery from the orphan, as it indeed is. Throughout her life Vivian had three names representing her three different ways of life. She had the name Irish with her biological family, Dorothy with her foster families and Vivian as her independent name “viewing life now as a series of unrelated adaptations” (Baker 192). The independence that Vivian develops through the plot is remarkable for someone her age and is also surprising seeing everything she had to

In the novel Orphan Train, Vivian and Molly lived their childhood in two different places. Two settings in the novel are New York and Spruce Harbor. New York was where Vivian lived with her family before the house sat on fire. Spruce Harbor was where the two main characters, Molly and Vivian met and lived. It was when Molly had to do community service because she made a graffiti in a wall. She had to do fifty hours with Vivian to help her clean her enormous house. In the opening, Molly was mean and unsupportive, however as the story evolved, she started to be interested by Vivian’s life because of all the objects and pictures Vivian had. Each Saturday, Molly would come and sit in the couch with Vivian and hear her poignant happenings, life changing experiences, and emotional life. One example would be when she was explaining to Molly that she had learned “long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable with all its bad things”(Baker 229). In conclusion, the setting helps to create a thorough understanding of the story and develops the