The Ogress and the Orphans

Kelly Barnhill

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-9

Chapters 10-15

Chapters 16-19

Chapters 20-24

Chapters 25-30

Chapters 31-36

Chapters 37-42

Chapters 43-49

Chapters 50-54

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Cultural Context: Barnhill’s Response to Politics

In the acknowledgments of The Ogress and the Orphans, Barnhill notes that the book was partly a response to the death of George Floyd in 2020, as well as the political atmosphere during and following the Trump administration. As such, the novel contains many similarities to the early 2020s and addresses issues such as discrimination, misinformation, and division. The townspeople discriminate against the Ogress because tales of ogres present the creatures in a poor light. This calls to the discrimination inherent in racism, where people hate groups who are different based on prejudices or biases that have no basis in reality.

The novel also explores misinformation and its spread. The Mayor is a stand-in for poor political leadership, specifically the Trump administration, and any leaders who put their desires before those of the people they serve. Rather than offer the people of Stone-in-the-Glen truth, the Mayor twists his words into lies built around a small piece of truth. Misinformation is believable because it takes something that can be verified and creates an alternative narrative around it. It relies on unquestioning faith and, as was seen with lies told by the Trump administration, falls apart when verifiable truth comes to light. The Mayor’s misinformation lets him sow division among the people, making them distrust one another and allowing him to control them. The division in the town means people don’t share ideas, which, in turn, means they continue to believe their version of reality, never questioning whether it may not be the truth. Taken together, discrimination, misinformation, and division would have led to Stone-in-the-Glen’s downfall without the Ogress and orphans to combat them, similar to how these forces work to rip America and other countries apart.

Authorial Context: Barnhill and Imposter Syndrome

Before The Ogress and the Orphans, Barnhill authored The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which won the Newbery Metal, one of the most prestigious awards in children's literature. While she was honored by the award, it also fostered self-doubt about her ability to write another novel as good or better than her first. This doubt turned into imposter syndrome, defined as the psychological experience of feeling fake in an area where one has experienced success. Though The Girl Who Drank the Moon received critical and reader acclaim, the book’s notoriety made Barnhill worry about the future of her career.

To continue writing, Barnhill penned short fairy-tale works each day, never showing them to anyone. The Ogress and the Orphans began as one of these works in 2020, and Barnhill originally envisioned it as a picture book. She spent the early part of the year revising and finished in early May, around the same time George Floyd was murdered. The public response to his death inspired Barnhill to add the Ogress’s gifts to the townspeople and explore the effect of community in the wake of tragedy. She was also inspired by how people banded together in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The inspiration offered by these terrible events and the positive ways people responded to them gave Barnhill the courage she needed to overcome her imposter syndrome and publish The Ogress and the Orphans.