The Orphan Collector: A Heroic Novel of Survival During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-8

Chapters 9-18

Chapters 19-24

Chapters 25-29

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Themes

American Patriotism

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of racism, anti-immigrant bias, and kidnapping.

Patriotism is explored in many ways throughout the novel. At the tail end of World War I, the country is celebrating America’s triumph. The novel opens at the Liberty Loan parade, where “200,000 men, women, and children waved American flags and jostled one another for prime viewing space along the two-mile route” (1). This parade is a duty for Americans: “They were there to support the troops, buy war bonds, and show their patriotism during a time of war. Victory in Europe—and keeping the Huns out of America—was first and foremost on their minds” (1). That the parade facilitates the early spread of the flu virus has symbolic implications, suggesting that patriotism can be deadly. This is particularly true for the Lange family, who—ironically—attend the parade as a survival tactic. As German Americans, they are under the watchful eye of their neighbors, who are suspicious that they might be enemy spies. The novel questions this performative patriotism, which not only fails to save them from the prejudice of people like Bernice, but possibly kills Mrs. Lange.

Patriotism also serves as a means of social control, especially over the flow of goods, people, and services. During the war, Pia and her family are asked to sacrifice food, eating only certain types of bread and potatoes. Later, the government asks families to take in children orphaned by the flu as an act of patriotism. Such sacrifices are often couched in emotional appeals to consider those serving overseas, as though the enlistment of men like Pia’s father was not already a sacrifice in and of itself.

Finally, patriotism is also how Bernice justifies her actions; she tells herself that it is good for America and “real” Americans to get rid of or displace immigrants. She explains:

[G]iving a God-fearing American couple a white orphan to turn unto a contributing member of society, instead of letting him end up on the streets someday would be good for the city. The country too. Surely any patriot would agree with that (222).

The novel implies that Bernice is in one sense correct: Many “patriots” would agree with her. This is itself a problem, however. Bernice’s understanding of what is good for the country takes it as a given that immigrants are not part of the country; it would surely not be “patriotic” to separate American children from their families and jeopardize their well-being, yet this is exactly what Bernice is doing.

Immigration, Racism, and Anti-Immigrant Bias

This novel explores the roles immigration and anti-immigrant bias played during early 20th-century America. Pia’s family immigrated to the US for a better life and has accepted the country as their own; like many immigrants, Mr. Lange even enlists in the US Army, though it means fighting against his former countrymen. However, the Langes’ embrace of their new country is ambivalent in that it is not entirely voluntary. In the American “melting pot,” the Langes are expected to forget their German culture and language and assimilate into mainstream white society. This is both an unfair sacrifice and a best-case scenario, as it’s not an option available to immigrants of color.

Bernice embodies the prejudiced attitude that makes this assimilation necessary, viewing immigrants as a threat and a source of problems. Bernice is not well-off—she lives in the same impoverished neighborhood as the Langes—and she projects her justifiable economic frustrations onto those with even less power: “[Foreigners] were stealing jobs from real Americans, like her late father, who had worked at the shipyard for over forty years until a German who lived across the way, Mr. Lange, was hired to replace him” (50). Bernice also blames the flu on immigrants and their supposedly “dirty” habits: “[E]veryone knew migrants brought disease across nations’ ports and borders” (51). As in the case of her father’s job, Bernice identifies a real problem—the neglect of the city’s poorer regions and the shortage of medical resources—but scapegoats immigrants for it.

The juxtaposition of these two narratives—that of the immigrant protagonist and the racist, white antagonist—helps to establish the novel’s central question: who America is “for.” Not everyone in the novel is as prejudiced as Bernice, but the dominant rhetoric of the time encourages such negative sentiments. Even kind characters like Mrs. Hudson are not immune to bigotry. Thinking that Pia’s family is from Holland, Mrs. Hudson responds, “Well, as long [they’re] not German. […] The war might be over, but I’ll never forgive those people for what they did, especially to my husband” (240). However, when Nurse Wallis later calls Pia a “lying German,” Mrs. Hudson responds that she truly does not care if Pia is German, saying, “I’m sorry I said anything to make her think otherwise” (297-98). This change in position is telling. After getting to know Pia, Mrs. Hudson doesn’t see Pia as a German stereotype or as an impoverished immigrant, but rather as a human that she respects and cares for.

Socioeconomic Differences and Access to Critical Care

This novel explores the implications of socioeconomic class, especially in times of crisis. Pia experiences the world from a lower-class perspective. She and her family live in a small apartment in an impoverished, overcrowded, and dangerous part of the city, and she considers herself lucky simply to have her own bed. To survive wartime shortages, they rely on a community of neighbors and secure just enough food to get by.

The flu outbreak exacerbates this situation. Lower-class families like Pia’s are more likely to catch and die of the disease; they live and work in close proximity to others, often in less-than-sanitary conditions, and chronic deprivation makes them more vulnerable to infection. However, they have little access to medical care, relying on overcrowded hospitals rather than the personal physicians more well-to-do families could afford. Likewise, the lower class’s newly orphaned children receive little societal attention. When Pia arrives at the orphanage, she notes that the children are wearing “ragged clothes that seemed either too big or too small. No one wore a jacket or scarf” (134). At dinner, she is served stew that is “lukewarm and taste[s] like stale water mixed with a few mushy pieces of carrot, potato, and some kind of meat” (140). The children recognize that society views them as disposable, calling themselves “throwaways” (136).

In comparison, the Hudsons—a middle-class family—lead lives of luxury. Their house is a “brick three story with tall windows, ornamental trim, and white shutters” (232), and they own many items whose purpose is aesthetic rather than functional. Pia feels as if she doesn’t deserve the extravagance of hand-me-down clothes and hot water to clean herself with, but for Mrs. Hudson, these things are necessities—even givens. Likewise, their experience of the epidemic differs dramatically from Pia’s or even Bernice’s. Mrs. Hudson can stay in her home, have groceries delivered, and minimize contact with strangers. Pia and her family could not have avoided the flu in this way; they had to leave their house just to get water. If Dr. Hudson had gotten sick, he could stay in his office with access to medical supplies and avoid the rest of his family. This contrasts starkly with Pia, who had to sleep in the same room as her mother as the latter died from the flu and then lived in the house with her mother’s decomposing body.