Niamh's Identity In The Orphan Train

She begins her journey by traveling by boat from Ireland to New York. Her name at that point in the story, the name her parents gave her, is Niamh Power. Throughout the story her name changes multiple times. This is because she went through a traumatic fire that she was told killed everyone in her family. Each time her name is changed so does her identity and the version of herself that she realizes she has become. Although she will always be Niamh Power from Ireland the names that her adoption parents give her are the leading identities that she receives. This is not because she chose to have this new identity but because she has to be in most of the situations that she is placed in. The situations that she is put into after the train arrives in Minnesota and she is adopted for the first time.

The realizations that she comes to with her own identity are discussed all throughout the book. With her first adoption family she is named Dorothy and finally realizes that she will no longer be allowed to make many decisions on her own. Her identity is changed from a girl with a family to the girl without a family. She begins to appreciate small family-like gestures from others that someone who already has a family would …show more content…
It is primarily about her because it discusses her travels through the early 1930’s into the early 1940’s but isn’t because the book also follows the story of Molly. A troubled girl from Maine who has been in and out of foster care. Similar to Niamh’s situation as a child. Molly falls into more trouble and finds herself having to do fifty hours of community volunteer work. She ends up working for an old lady named Vivian. Molly at first presumes that the work of clearing out a ninety-one year old’s attic will not be fun. Slowly they begin to talk to each other more and share more about themselves. Molly quickly notices that she actually is enjoying the work with