Orphan Train

by

Christina Baker Kline

Molly is one of the novel’s two protagonists. She is an intelligent, opinionated, and reflective seventeen-year-old girl who lives with her foster parents, Ralph and Dina Thibodeaus, at their home in Spruce Harbor, Maine. Molly’s father was a Penobscot Indian and her mother, Donna Ayer, is white. As a child, Molly lived with her parents in a trailer on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation in Maine. When Molly was eight years old, her father died in a car accident. When her mother landed in jail a few months later, Molly was placed into the foster care system. She has lived in several foster care homes and struggles to develop trusting relationships with others. She has a boyfriend, Jack, and she is a vegetarian. Throughout the novel, her friendship with 91-year-old Vivian Daly transforms her ability to connect with others and accept herself.

Molly Ayer Quotes in Orphan Train

The Orphan Train quotes below are all either spoken by Molly Ayer or refer to Molly Ayer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Belonging and Connection Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

The charms are all she has left of what used to be her life.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Mr. Ayer / Molly’s Father
Related Symbols: The Three Pewter Charms / Molly’s Charm Necklace
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:

Even after getting into trouble like this and probably getting sent away, she knows she’d never have asked Jack to buy the book. If there is one thing she hates most about being in the foster care system, it’s this dependence on people you barely know, your vulnerability to their whims. She has learned not to expect anything from anybody.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Jack
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Dina purses her lips and cocks her head, clearly trying to gauge whether Molly’s praise is sincere. Well, Dina, Molly thinks, it is and it isn’t. Thank you for taking me in and feeding me. But if you think you can squash my ideals, force me to eat meat when I told you I don’t, expect me to care about your aching back when you don’t seem the slightest bit interested in my life, you can forget it. I’ll play your fucking game. But I don’t have to play by your rules.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Dina Thibodeaus
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

To her surprise, Molly feels a lump in her throat. She swallows, pushing it down. How ridiculous – an old lady gives her a moldy book she has no use for, and she chokes up. She must be getting her period.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: The Attic / Boxes in the Attic
Page Number: 85
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

He’s always making excuses – “She didn’t mean nothing by it,” “She’s yanking your chain” – when Dina does things like intone “the Tribe has spoken” when Molly expresses an opinion. “You need to stop taking yourself so seriously, little girl,” Dina said when Molly asked her to knock it off. “If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re going to have a very hard life.”

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Ralph Thibodeaus, Dina Thibodeaus
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Maybe it’ll be a stretch to find drama in Vivian’s portage – a happy, stable life does not an interesting story make, right? But even the rich have their problems, or so Molly’s heard. It will be her task to extract them.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: Portaging
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

“Well,” Molly says, “I think the boat represents what you take with you – the essential things – from place to place. And the water – well, I think it’s the place you’re always trying to get to.”

Related Characters: Molly Ayer (speaker), Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: Portaging
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

But over and over, Molly begins to understand as she listens to the tapes, Vivian has come back to the idea that the people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our most ordinary moments. They are with us in the grocery store as we turn a corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: The Attic / Boxes in the Attic
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

“Ah, well,” Vivian says. “I suppose we all come under false pretenses one way or another, don’t we?”

Related Characters: Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy” (speaker), Molly Ayer
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

She can sleep with the door open, wander around freely, come and go without someone watching her every move. She hadn’t realized how much of a toll the years of judgment and criticism, implied and expressed, had taken on her. It’s as if she’s been walking on a wire, trying to keep her balance, and now, for the first time, she is on solid ground.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Page Number: 256
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 40 Quotes

Sitting in the rocker in the kitchen, looking out at the water, Molly feels oddly at peace. For the first time since she can remember, her life is beginning to make sense. What up until this moment has felt like a random, disconnected series of unhappy events she now views as necessary steps in a journey toward… enlightenment is perhaps too strong a word, but there are others, less lofty, like self-acceptance and perspective.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:

Molly touches Vivian’s shoulder, frail and bony under her thin silk cardigan. She half turns, half smiles, her eyes brimming with tears. Her hand flutters to her clavicle, to the silver chain around her neck, the claddagh charm – those tiny hands clasping a crowned heart: love, loyalty, friendship – a never-ending path that leads away from home and circles back.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”, Sarah Dunnell/ “May”
Related Symbols: The Claddagh Cross / Vivian’s Necklace
Page Number: 273
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Orphan Train LitChart as a printable PDF.
Orphan Train PDF

Molly Ayer Quotes in Orphan Train

The Orphan Train quotes below are all either spoken by Molly Ayer or refer to Molly Ayer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Belonging and Connection Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

The charms are all she has left of what used to be her life.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Mr. Ayer / Molly’s Father
Related Symbols: The Three Pewter Charms / Molly’s Charm Necklace
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:

Even after getting into trouble like this and probably getting sent away, she knows she’d never have asked Jack to buy the book. If there is one thing she hates most about being in the foster care system, it’s this dependence on people you barely know, your vulnerability to their whims. She has learned not to expect anything from anybody.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Jack
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Dina purses her lips and cocks her head, clearly trying to gauge whether Molly’s praise is sincere. Well, Dina, Molly thinks, it is and it isn’t. Thank you for taking me in and feeding me. But if you think you can squash my ideals, force me to eat meat when I told you I don’t, expect me to care about your aching back when you don’t seem the slightest bit interested in my life, you can forget it. I’ll play your fucking game. But I don’t have to play by your rules.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Dina Thibodeaus
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

To her surprise, Molly feels a lump in her throat. She swallows, pushing it down. How ridiculous – an old lady gives her a moldy book she has no use for, and she chokes up. She must be getting her period.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: The Attic / Boxes in the Attic
Page Number: 85
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

He’s always making excuses – “She didn’t mean nothing by it,” “She’s yanking your chain” – when Dina does things like intone “the Tribe has spoken” when Molly expresses an opinion. “You need to stop taking yourself so seriously, little girl,” Dina said when Molly asked her to knock it off. “If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re going to have a very hard life.”

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Ralph Thibodeaus, Dina Thibodeaus
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Maybe it’ll be a stretch to find drama in Vivian’s portage – a happy, stable life does not an interesting story make, right? But even the rich have their problems, or so Molly’s heard. It will be her task to extract them.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: Portaging
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

“Well,” Molly says, “I think the boat represents what you take with you – the essential things – from place to place. And the water – well, I think it’s the place you’re always trying to get to.”

Related Characters: Molly Ayer (speaker), Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: Portaging
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

But over and over, Molly begins to understand as she listens to the tapes, Vivian has come back to the idea that the people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our most ordinary moments. They are with us in the grocery store as we turn a corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Related Symbols: The Attic / Boxes in the Attic
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

“Ah, well,” Vivian says. “I suppose we all come under false pretenses one way or another, don’t we?”

Related Characters: Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy” (speaker), Molly Ayer
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

She can sleep with the door open, wander around freely, come and go without someone watching her every move. She hadn’t realized how much of a toll the years of judgment and criticism, implied and expressed, had taken on her. It’s as if she’s been walking on a wire, trying to keep her balance, and now, for the first time, she is on solid ground.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Page Number: 256
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 40 Quotes

Sitting in the rocker in the kitchen, looking out at the water, Molly feels oddly at peace. For the first time since she can remember, her life is beginning to make sense. What up until this moment has felt like a random, disconnected series of unhappy events she now views as necessary steps in a journey toward… enlightenment is perhaps too strong a word, but there are others, less lofty, like self-acceptance and perspective.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:

Molly touches Vivian’s shoulder, frail and bony under her thin silk cardigan. She half turns, half smiles, her eyes brimming with tears. Her hand flutters to her clavicle, to the silver chain around her neck, the claddagh charm – those tiny hands clasping a crowned heart: love, loyalty, friendship – a never-ending path that leads away from home and circles back.

Related Characters: Molly Ayer, Vivian Daly / Niamh Power / “Dorothy”, Sarah Dunnell/ “May”
Related Symbols: The Claddagh Cross / Vivian’s Necklace
Page Number: 273
Explanation and Analysis: