Orphans, by Thomas Kennington

An orphan (from the Greek ορφανός) is a person (typically a child), who has lost both parents, often through death. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly One legal definition used in the USA is someone bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents". ^[1] Common usage limits the term to children, (or the young of animals) who have lost both parents. On this basis half-orphans are those with one surviving parent.

In certain animal species where the father typically abandons the mother and child at or prior to birth, the child will be called an orphan when the mother dies regardless of the condition of the father. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank.

Populations

Orphans are commonly found in big cities because it is easier for the parents to dump them off there. It is also easier for an orphan to live in a city for its abundance of shelter and food.

• 2001 figures from 2002 UNICEF/UNAIDS report^[2]

Significant charities that help orphans

Prior to the establishment of state care for orphans in First World countries, many private charities existed to take care of destitute orphans.

• SOS Children's Villages is the world's largest non-governmental, non-denominational child welfare organization. SOS Children's Villages is an independent non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children Its mission is to provide stable homes and loving families for orphaned and abandoned children around the world.

• Dr Barnardo's Homes (now simply Barnardo's)

Orphans in literature

Mime offers food to the young Siegfried, an orphan he is raising; Illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagner's Siegfried

Orphaned characters are extremely common as literary protagonists, especially in children's and fantasy literature. Thomas John Barnardo ( 4 July 1845 — 19 September 1905) Irish Philanthropist, and founder and director of homes for destitute Barnardo's is a British charity founded by the Irish Doctor Thomas John Barnardo in 1866 to care for vulnerable children and young people Arthur Rackham ( 19 September 1867 &ndash 6 September 1939) was a prolific English book illustrator Children's literature is an age category of literature written for published for or marketed to Children roughly through age 12 Fantasy literature is Fantasy in written form Historically speaking the majority of fantasy works have been literature ^[3] The lack of parents leaves the characters to pursue more interesting and adventurous lives, by freeing them from familial obligations and controls, and depriving them of more prosaic lives. It creates characters that are self-contained and introspective and who strive for affection. Orphans can metaphorically search for self-understanding through attempting to know their roots. Parents can also be allies and sources of aid for children, and removing the parents makes the character's difficulties more severe. Parents, furthermore, can be irrelevant to the theme a writer is trying to develop, and orphaning the character frees the writer from the necessity to depict such an irrelevant relationship; if one parent-child relationship is important, removing the other parent prevents complicating the necessary relationship. All these characteristics make orphans attractive characters for authors.

Orphans are common in fairy tales, such as some variants of Cinderella. Cinderella ( French: Cendrillon, Slovak: Popoluška, German: Aschenputtel, Spanish: Cenicienta

A number of well known authors have written books featuring orphans including Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling as well as some less well known authors of famous orphans like Little Orphan Annie and the Baudelaire siblings of the Series of Unfortunate Events. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist Roald Dahl ( 13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British Novelist Short story Writer Joanne "Jo" Rowling OBE (born 31 July 1965 who writes under the Little Orphan Annie is a Full page (later half page or tab) American Comic strip, created by Harold Gray (1894-1968 A Series of Unfortunate Events is a children's Book series of thirteen novels written by Daniel Handler under the Pseudonym of One recurring storyline has been the relationship that the orphan can have with an adult from outside his or her immediate family. Some of the most emotive works have been those featuring the relationship between a man and a boy, particularly boys that are coming of age.

Orphans in the Bible

Many books of the Bible contain idea, that helping and defending orphans is very important and God-pleasing matter^[4]. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Several citations:

• "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. " (Old Testament, Exodus 22:22)
• "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. " (New Testament, James 1:27)
• "Leave your orphans; I will protect their lives. Your widows too can trust in me. " (Old Testament, Jeremiah 49:11)

See also

• Adoption
• Orphanage
• Orphanage.org
• Orphan Train
• Single parent
• Owen and Mzee, an orphan hippopotamus that befriended a giant tortoise
• Orphans International
• Street children

References