The book’s large focus on life in a foster family makes me wonder how realistic this portrayal is. The book mainly shows foster families as being tolerable at best and brutally abusive at worst, but I’m not sure whether or not this is generally true in reality. Along with that, I’m also wonder about the experiences of immigrants and the discrimination they faced. I’m curious about when immigration was most common, where most immigrates settled, and when there was the most discrimination against them.
I found it interesting and kind of weird that the Foster system didn't really seem to change that much from the early 1900's to now. There are also several problems with the system too! For example, both Vivian and Molly had to experience families that didn't want them and didn't fallow all of the rules. The weird thing is that these events still happen even though they have been going on for over a century and it has not changed. You would think that the Foster System would do extensive background checks on the families to see if they will be a safe environment for a child. Something you could look in to would be how the system has changed and has the portrayal of foster homes changed. You could also try to look into what made it so we portray foster homes this way. Was this portrayal always negative or did a specific event or book cause this change?
ReplyDeleteI really liked this book, but I thought that it ended suddenly. Did you think that too? It seems as though Ms. Kline was starting to get tired of the book so she just ended it. To me it seems as though it was not concluded. I really wanted her to go into the meeting between Vivian and her daughter. I didn't like that Christine Baker Kline killed Dutchy! He was really the only good thing that came out of Vivian being in the Foster system.
I believe that the hight of immigration was in the late 1800's and into the early 1900's, so you could look into those dates for information. If you are looking for the most common places where immigrates went to. I would look into the census during that time , but I would check the dates.
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