City of Orphans

Willa takes her place as a true family member in these chapters as she helps Mama with the household chores, escorts the younger boys to school, and takes over Maks’s newsie job. Her proximity to Mama during these domestic scenes offers her the opportunity to grow closer to Mama and learn more about her experiences before immigrating to America. Mama reveals her personal struggle in leaving her home country and immigrating to America. She finds she misses much about her old life but in turn enjoys certain simple luxuries like drinking coffee. She tenderly tells Willa that she, too, misses her mother and that her greatest worry is her children’s future. Telling Willa that she will only understand one day when she is a mother is an intimate reference to Willa’s future. Mama speaks hope into a young girl who at one time could not even fathom her next meal. To speak of future progeny is to breathe hope into her life.

In one discussion, Willa reveals a key clue to the unfolding mystery: that her last name is Brunswick, same as the mysterious man in charge of Bruno. Thus, the mystery deepens, and Willa transforms from a fledging youth to a key player in solving the question of why Emma has been targeted and why Bruno and his gang are intent on bringing down all the newsies.

Willa has undergone quite a transformation since Maks discovered her in the alley. She is growing less anxious and fearful, slowly revealing more of herself to the family. At one time refusing to surrender her stick even indoors, she confidently sets it in the corner of the flat, finally feeling at peace in her new family. She is seen as an equal by Bartleby Donck in the detective scheme and is given the important job of finding the room number clue. Willa wavers in her confidence in questioning Emma at The Tombs, but when she takes to the streets with the newspaper stack she truly comes into her own. The brutal robbery and beating by Bruno and his gang, however, is a savage reminder of the crude and barbaric nature of life on the streets.

Meanwhile, Maks’s time in the Waldorf proves to be enlightening, even in just a few hours of his arrival. He sees a telephone for the first time and takes a dizzying yet exhilarating ride on an elevator. These glimpses into technology are exciting and hopeful for the young newsie. They provide a momentary exit out of the harsh reality of his circumstances. They also symbolize the forward progress of the age. Telephones are quickly becoming ubiquitous, connecting people in an unprecedented way. The modern age is on the horizon. He is taken aback by the luxury of room 912. The opulence is a foretaste of the Gilded Age grandeur that is to come. Yet the excitement turns quickly to shame for Maks. He feels small and insignificant in the face of such magnificence.

Maks learns Packwood owes a debt to Donck and thus allows him to do his sleuthing, despite Maks’s sister’s alleged crimes. Packwood’s sister appears familiar to Maks, and she is likely the woman whom Donck loved but was forbidden to marry. Packwood’s intentions are left ambiguous, and it is unclear whether he sympathizes with Maks and his family’s situation or is merely appeasing his dying and destitute friend. Wherever his intentions lie, his amiability to the plan is fortuitous for Maks. He will need as many allies as possible to rescue Emma, especially in a city where adults are known for ignoring the pleas of needy children. Maks’s next revelation comes after he delivers the glasses to the Men’s Club. He sees the political criminal Gorker dining with a man who resembles Willa’s father. He has been assured by her that her father is dead, and Maks cannot make sense of the situation. Now he will be forced to undergo the challenging task of collecting clues and observing possible connections just as Donck instructed.