Orphan Train

In this novel, the theme of portaging takes on both literal and symbolic meanings.

For example, both Molly and Vivian have literally moved many times, taking all of their belongings with them. Molly reports that the Thibodeaus are her twelfth foster family. Therefore in nine years she has moved all of her things twelve times. Vivian, too, moves frequently in her childhood: from Ireland to the U.S., from New York City to Minnesota, and then from the Byrnes to the Grotes to the Nielsens.

These moves are emotionally painful for both women. Each move represents another instance of rejection by those charged with caring for and loving them. Their forced portages make them fearful of rejection and cause them to shut down emotionally, in an attempt to protect themselves from further rejection or loss.

Kline develops the theme of portage most fully through her character’s symbolic portages, wherein portaging all of one’s belongings represents emotional rather than physical baggage. In this sense of the term, Vivian and Molly are opposites.

Vivian saves everything from her past, as demonstrated by her overstuffed attic, and this tendency to hoard her belongings symbolizes her inability to heal and move on from her past. As the quotation in the front matter states, fear is “often the most difficult burden to surrender” (i). This statement is particularly true for Vivian. Vivian’s attic represents her complete inability to deal with her past. She has never revealed or dealt with any of her secrets—her baggage—instead, she simply stuffed them all away in the attic.

As she reveals her secrets to Molly, Vivian begins to the process of letting go. She cannot clear her attic, but she can examine its contents and organize it. She can process the feelings attached to her material possessions and move on. Not only has Vivian never told anyone, not even her husband, about being an orphan train rider, she never told him that she had a baby and gave her away for adoption either. The burden of these secrets keeps Vivian haunted by the past.

Molly, in contrast, learns from her own life experience, and her observations of Vivian’s life, to travel light. Though Molly’s tattoo is of a turtle—a creature who takes his house with him everywhere—she learns that she doesn’t need any belongings. She carries her identity, her home, inside her. All of the essential things she needs to survive are inside her. She doesn’t truly need anything else. In this way, Molly is light-years ahead of Vivian. Though Kline leaves one significant relationship in Molly’s life—her relationship with her mother—unresolved, Molly has many years of life in front of her in which to come to terms with her mother.

Kline’s novel forces her readers to consider the following questions: What baggage do you carry with you? What are the things most critical to take along? What can you leave behind? What should you learn to leave behind that you haven’t?