Dear Class, As part of your After Reading Activity in The Arrival Cyberlesson, please post a review of the book. Please bring to bear all that you have learned in your analysis of the text including info from websites. Thank you, Dr. Kurkjian
I found The Arrival to be a vivid wordless story that told the story of a man leaving his wife and child and native land to make a new, seeingly 'better' life for him and his family, in a strange land, or unknown country, as millions of immigrants from all over the world did when they journeyed to the United States. The man in The Arrival, like millions of immigrants, had nothing but a small suitcase and a small amount of money. This man had to fight through the frustrations of language barriers- written and verbal. The graphics in The Arrival clearly depict the frustrations and agony this man feels by being alon and homesick. The reader is reminded of the connections to immigrants of the past, even present, perhaps family members;immigrants whomay have held prominent positions in thier native lands, left to feel menial and alone as they embark a mission in unknown territory in attempt to improve quality of life. As you read, you think of the immigrants that made sacrifices, took on seemingly menial jobs, in order to save to bring thier families over to the new land. This book holds a surreal, and science fiction element, one in which the reader is led to believe that it could be set in the future, and/ or extra terrestial life is involved. However, the theme of stranger in a strange land runs through the course of the novel, until the end, which hold an element of sweetness amongst the strange. This could be shared with my fourth grade students, with guidance and prompting.
I found The Arrival to be captivating and moving. This wordless graphic novel tells of the immigrant's story. A man leaves his wife and daughter to go to a new land; A land of opportunity and freedom. When he first arrives in this new world he is lost and confused. He is unable to communicate because of a language barrier and has no one to guide him in his new journeys. He befriends other immigrants. The images of these immigrants which were in the beginning faceless are now vivid and detailed. They share their stories of loneliness and hardship with him as if to say you're not alone. For some readers, making a text to self connection may bring back memories full of a range of emotions from joy and excitement to anguish and pain. The immigrant man meets a family who welcomes him into their home. He is offered comfort in the form of food and company. He finds work on an assembly line in a factory. There are faceless people lined up in rows standing as he once did when he came off of the steamship. In the end the man is reunited with his family. The joyful ending, which brings closure for the reader, can be compared to a fairy tale ending. The realistic images combined with the surreal images offers this historical event a science fiction element that brings this story into the future. I would not hesitate to use this novel in grades 4-12 when discussing immigration
Shaun Tan's wordless graphic novel, The Arrival, is a magnificently illustrated story of one man's journey from his homeland and family to what he hopes will be an opportunity for a better life in America. Tan's use of intricate relistic illustrations juxtaposed with his fantastic surrealistic images almost forces the reader to relate to the emotions felt by someone from an eastern culture with a different oral and written language coming to a fast paced American city. The reader feels the immigrant's confusion and frustration as he/she must carefully examine the surreal images that Tan has included to represent the obstacles in the main character's way as he negotiates this new world. The very addition of the surreal images and the use of white to make these images pop changes the experience for a nonimmigrant reading this book. One cannot simply flip through the pages and comfortably read a familar story of immiigration, but must stop and ponder each picture looking for the meaning in what Tan is trying to communicate. At times, confusion sets in as one tries to conjure up background knowledge to comprehend the meaning of the pictures more accurately. This again is so similiar to the immigrant's experience as he tries to communicate with the many people he meets along the way. There is no absoloute certainty in this situation when communicating with others. You need to know the nuances of a language. With time, an immigrant learns to communicate more effectively as with each examination of Tan's work the reader's understanding becomes clearer. I would definitley recommend this book for intermediate grades and beyond. I know I will read it again and again!
Shaun Tan's wordless graphic novel, The Arrival, is a magnificently illustrated story of one man's journey from his homeland and family to what he hopes will be an opportunity for a better life in America. Tan's use of intricate realistic illustrations juxtaposed with his fantastic surrealistic images almost forces the reader to relate to the emotions felt by someone from an eastern culture with a different oral and written language coming to a fast paced American city. The reader feels the immigrant's confusion and frustration as he/she must carefully examine the surreal images that Tan has included to represent the obstacles in the main character's way as he negotiates this new world. The very addition of the surreal images and the use of white to make these images pop changes the experience for a nonimmigrant reading this book. One cannot simply flip through the pages and comfortably read a familiar story of immigration, but must stop and ponder each picture looking for the meaning in what Tan is trying to communicate. At times, confusion sets in as one tries to conjure up background knowledge to comprehend the meaning of the pictures more accurately. This again is so similar to the immigrant's experience as he tries to communicate with the many people he meets along the way. There is no absolute certainty in this situation when communicating with others. You need to know the nuances of a language. With time, an immigrant learns to communicate more effectively as with each examination of Tan's work the reader's understanding becomes clearer. I would definitely recommend this book for intermediate grades and beyond. I know I will read it again and again!
The Arrival by Shaun Tan opens the door to understanding immigration in a new way. Many stories have been told using pictures and text and always from the view of the immigrant. Mr. Tan's story shows us and doesn't tell us. The richness of the illustrations and the lack of text allows the reader to place himself in the shoes of the main character. The play of the surreal and the realistic allows us to see for ourselves what it must be like to enter a new world whether for a visit or for a lifetime. Strange foods, bizarre animals, and basic forms of communication are all the main character sees and has. He survives and is able to create a new home for his family. It's a timeless story that illustrates a very real experience that continues on even today.
Part 2: The Arrival is a moving story that makes me realize that my parents must have felt the same way as the main character in the story. They came from Europe in the 1950's and felt just like the man in the story did. Not knowing the language or how to acclimate themselves into American society was a challenge. Today they are realizing the American dream but it was a hard battle to reach that point. I feel that between my own experiences and those of my parents, this book would be an excellent avenue to introduce immigration to my students. Many of their parents immigrated from places like Poland and Bosnia and would have similar stories to share. Another aspect that would allow my students to connect with the book are the various portions of the website on Ellis Island. To be able to share with my students the actual photographs that Mr. Tan used would connect how an author finds his information and the use of technology. Perhaps it would inspire one of my students to do the same for their own families stories. I have been slowly introducing graphic novels to my classroom library and find they are always signed out. This is another I can add and hopefully my students will love it just as I do.
The Arrival Shaun Tan’s book holds something for everyone but needs repeated readings to flesh out the story and allow for deeper understanding. Repeated readings help the reader to continue to find new nuances Every reader can take something away from his book, The Arrival. The story will impact those who are directly connected to the immigrant process through Ellis Island immediately but lets other readers make new connections at every reading. This was the beauty of the book for me giving me the opportunity to touch the past through the connection of my own grandparents journey to America. Based on the great waves of immigration at the beginning of the century the immigration process will never be the same again for any brave soul who makes a new life in a new land. Mr. Tan has captured that point in time when brave people in desperate situations grasped a slender straw to transform themselves and their lives for the better and provided a glimpse of the countries that opened their arms to these lost souls.
Breathtaking. Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival provides readers with an experience like no other. Tan invites his readers to embark on a journey and experience immigration through the eyes of a man in an unknown land. Unlike most novels, The Arrival is void of all words. Instead, Tan eloquently tells the tale of immigration through the graceful string of detailed images. Ultimately, Tan reinforces the idea that literacy takes on many forms, including the understanding of graphic images.
The audience travels along with the protagonist from his native land where he and his family are haunted by a horrific dragon tail, which may in fact symbolize some form of oppression. In efforts to escape the tight grasp of oppression, this courageous man sets out alone to a new country with hopes to find a better life for him and his family. As he sets foot on this new land, the protagonist encounters the conflicting emotions associated with the “immigration station.” While he is excited to find a better life, he is also confronted with frustration, confusion, and doubt as he must partake in a number of questionnaires, examinations, and interviews.
Upon arrival, the protagonist encounters other immigrants who once traveled the same path. We learn that each person fled to this new land for different reasons. Whether they were escaping slavery, genocide, or war, each immigrant left with the hopes of finding opportunities for a better life.
Shaun Tan’s graphic novel is set apart from all others in the sense that it combines both realistic and fantastical images in order to convey a specific theme. Although some images may appear fantastical on first glance, a deeper examination illustrates that all images are reminiscent of something which exists our lives. Ultimately, Tan’s novel pushes the reader to expand their mind. Tan encourages his audience to take a deep breath, slow down, and savor the meaning behind the images. The plot is not handed to the reader on a silver platter. Instead the reader must earn the right to truly understand the deeper message found within the story.
In my opinion, The Arrival by Shaun Tan is beyond a well-recognized graphic novel...it is an experience that readers of all ages can enjoy. In an effort to create a logical story in their minds, the reader must reconcile the strange yet common images to their background knowledge about immigration. Shaun Tan allows the reader to view the journey through the eyes of an immigrant and experience a variety of feelings of wonder, confusion, terror, and sadness. Throughout the carefully drawn and positioned images, Tan depicts the journey of a male protagonist who immigrates to a strange, foreign land. Tan's use of symbols instead of language and surreal images creates a timeless and placeless world. The novel begins with a man leaving his home to immigrate to a new world. After traveling on a steam train, he boards a crowded ship. When he arrives at the harbour, he sees a fantastical world, but cannot enter it until he has passed a series of inspections. When these are completed, he is dropped into his new world by an elevator-like box attached to a balloon. As the protagonist explores his new world, he attempts to find a sense of belonging that he has just lost when he left his native land and family. Although he sees common images, they are strange and surreal. For example, there is a transportation system but it flies. He also deals with a communication barrier as he struggles to translate the foreign symbols. At the end of the novel, the protagonist is reunited with his family. It is clear that his daughter has acquired a sense of belonging when she is helping a newly arrived immigrant in the last image of the book. This sugggests the cyclical nature of immigration as more immigrants assimilate to their new home. Interwoven within his story are the stories of other immigrants which makes the experience more universal. Shaun Tan incorporates these memories to further expand the scope of his novel. Also embedded within the novel are images of fantastical creatures and flying birds that force the reader to reexamine the book and connect the events where these items are included. Shaun Tan's graphic novel The Arrival is truly a masterpiece for all ages.
I would also like to mention the theme of belonging that Shaun Tan refers to on his website. This theme occurs throghout The Arrival and his other works. During this journey, the characters both lose a acquire a sense of belonging. The main protagonists leaves his sense of beloning when he leaves his native land and family. As he begins to experience his new world and build social relationships with other immigrants that relate their journey, he begins to acquire a sense of belonging. His sense of belonging is found when he is reunited with his family. This theme is also present in Shaun Tan's personal life as he deals with where he comes from, being of mixed cultures. It is his opinion that all people deal with this feeling as they discover their own identity. As far as the connections to teaching and learning, it is apparent that this book can be part of a unit on immigration or to teach viewpoints or interpretation. As said in the podcast, even young children in elementary school can make sense of this novel. Although many teachers may be reluctant to use it, they may be surprised when they discover their students' interpretation.
Shaun Tan amazingly tells his emotional, thought provoking, immigrant story without using a single word. The emotions and story structure that he is able to weave throughout this graphic novel are proof of his talent. The story tells about a man moving to a strange land without his family. It is difficult to tell if this story is set in the past or in the future, both real and surreal images allow you to believe it is both past and future at the same time. I believe Tan is trying to tell a story of immigration and personal interactions in society. While in this new land the main character has a few acquaintances that appear to help him in some form or another. As an American this story reminds me of those stories I have heard from immigrants to this country. They all have a common theme of fear in the new land, making new personal connections while in the new land, hope for more advantages and choices in life (be it for them or their children), and eventual success in this new land. While there are many symbols throughout the text I believe it is the birds that symbolize the main character’s hope in the new land. They always appear before each new event in the story. The first being when the boat arrives in the new land, and the next when a major flock of birds appear as he arrives at a friend’s house after giant men with fire extinguishers frighten the town. This is a story you can enjoy again and again, each time finding something new to ponder.
At first read, I found The Arrival difficult to understand. So many surreal images, unreadable symbols, symbolism and absent text that trying to comprehend the story became difficult. But, after a second and third read I became intrigued by the storyline, trying to fit all of the pieces together. Shaun Tan did an amazing job of telling the story of immigration, without actually telling us through words. His images were able to do all of the telling in though-provoking ways. The main character, the protagonist, leaves his wife and daughter behind to journey to a new land that promises freedom and bountiful opportunities. Upon arriving, however, he soon learns that this new land has many nuances with which he is not familiar. He cannot speak the language, nor can others understand his. He finds a modest place to live and begins his search for employment. Along the way be befriends other immigrants who share their stories of struggle with him. Through these interactions, he begins to feel he is not alone. Ultimately, in the end, he is reunited with his family. One can only hope that they have escaped the repression they felt in their native land.
This graphic novel depicts the endless hardships faced by immigrants when traveling to a new land in order to ulimatley find happiness. I believe readers of all ages will take away with them an appreciation of the struggles that immigrants faced, both in their native land and in their new land.
13 comments:
I found The Arrival to be a vivid wordless story that told the story of a man leaving his wife and child and native land to make a new, seeingly 'better' life for him and his family, in a strange land, or unknown country, as millions of immigrants from all over the world did when they journeyed to the United States. The man in The Arrival, like millions of immigrants, had nothing but a small suitcase and a small amount of money. This man had to fight through the frustrations of language barriers- written and verbal. The graphics in The Arrival clearly depict the frustrations and agony this man feels by being alon and homesick. The reader is reminded of the connections to immigrants of the past, even present, perhaps family members;immigrants whomay have held prominent positions in thier native lands, left to feel menial and alone as they embark a mission in unknown territory in attempt to improve quality of life. As you read, you think of the immigrants that made sacrifices, took on seemingly menial jobs, in order to save to bring thier families over to the new land.
This book holds a surreal, and science fiction element, one in which the reader is led to believe that it could be set in the future, and/ or extra terrestial life is involved. However, the theme of stranger in a strange land runs through the course of the novel, until the end, which hold an element of sweetness amongst the strange.
This could be shared with my fourth grade students, with guidance and prompting.
I found The Arrival to be captivating and moving. This wordless graphic novel tells of the immigrant's story. A man leaves his wife and daughter to go to a new land; A land of opportunity and freedom. When he first arrives in this new world he is lost and confused. He is unable to communicate because of a language barrier and has no one to guide him in his new journeys. He befriends other immigrants. The images of these immigrants which were in the beginning faceless are now vivid and detailed. They share their stories of loneliness and hardship with him as if to say you're not alone. For some readers, making a text to self connection may bring back memories full of a range of emotions from joy and excitement to anguish and pain. The immigrant man meets a family who welcomes him into their home. He is offered comfort in the form of food and company. He finds work on an assembly line in a factory. There are faceless people lined up in rows standing as he once did when he came off of the steamship. In the end the man is reunited with his family. The joyful ending, which brings closure for the reader, can be compared to a fairy tale ending. The realistic images combined with the surreal images offers this historical event a science fiction element that brings this story into the future. I would not hesitate to use this novel in grades 4-12 when discussing immigration
Shaun Tan's wordless graphic novel, The Arrival, is a magnificently illustrated story of one man's journey from his homeland and family to what he hopes will be an opportunity for a better life in America. Tan's use of intricate relistic illustrations juxtaposed with his fantastic surrealistic images almost forces the reader to relate to the emotions felt by someone from an eastern culture with a different oral and written language coming to a fast paced American city. The reader feels the immigrant's confusion and frustration as he/she must carefully examine the surreal images that Tan has included to represent the obstacles in the main character's way as he negotiates this new world. The very addition of the surreal images and the use of white to make these images pop changes the experience for a nonimmigrant reading this book. One cannot simply flip through the pages and comfortably read a familar story of immiigration, but must stop and ponder each picture looking for the meaning in what Tan is trying to communicate. At times, confusion sets in as one tries to conjure up background knowledge to comprehend the meaning of the pictures more accurately. This again is so similiar to the immigrant's experience as he tries to communicate with the many people he meets along the way. There is no absoloute certainty in this situation when communicating with others. You need to know the nuances of a language. With time, an immigrant learns to communicate more effectively as with each examination of Tan's work the reader's understanding becomes clearer. I would definitley recommend this book for intermediate grades and beyond. I know I will read it again and again!
Shaun Tan's wordless graphic novel, The Arrival, is a magnificently illustrated story of one man's journey from his homeland and family to what he hopes will be an opportunity for a better life in America. Tan's use of intricate realistic illustrations juxtaposed with his fantastic surrealistic images almost forces the reader to relate to the emotions felt by someone from an eastern culture with a different oral and written language coming to a fast paced American city. The reader feels the immigrant's confusion and frustration as he/she must carefully examine the surreal images that Tan has included to represent the obstacles in the main character's way as he negotiates this new world. The very addition of the surreal images and the use of white to make these images pop changes the experience for a nonimmigrant reading this book. One cannot simply flip through the pages and comfortably read a familiar story of immigration, but must stop and ponder each picture looking for the meaning in what Tan is trying to communicate. At times, confusion sets in as one tries to conjure up background knowledge to comprehend the meaning of the pictures more accurately. This again is so similar to the immigrant's experience as he tries to communicate with the many people he meets along the way. There is no absolute certainty in this situation when communicating with others. You need to know the nuances of a language. With time, an immigrant learns to communicate more effectively as with each examination of Tan's work the reader's understanding becomes clearer. I would definitely recommend this book for intermediate grades and beyond. I know I will read it again and again!
The Arrival by Shaun Tan opens the door to understanding immigration in a new way. Many stories have been told using pictures and text and always from the view of the immigrant. Mr. Tan's story shows us and doesn't tell us. The richness of the illustrations and the lack of text allows the reader to place himself in the shoes of the main character. The play of the surreal and the realistic allows us to see for ourselves what it must be like to enter a new world whether for a visit or for a lifetime. Strange foods, bizarre animals,
and basic forms of communication are all the main character sees and has. He survives and is able to create a new home for his family. It's a timeless story that illustrates a very real experience that continues on even today.
Part 2:
The Arrival is a moving story that makes me realize that my parents must have felt the same way as the main character in the story. They came from Europe in the 1950's and felt just like the man in the story did. Not knowing the language or how to acclimate themselves into American society was a challenge. Today they are realizing the American dream but it was a hard battle to reach that point. I feel that between my own experiences and those of my parents, this book would be an excellent avenue to introduce immigration to my students. Many of their parents immigrated from places like Poland and Bosnia and would have similar stories to share.
Another aspect that would allow my students to connect with the book are the various portions of the website on Ellis Island. To be able to share with my students the actual photographs that Mr. Tan used would connect how an author finds his information and the use of technology. Perhaps it would inspire one of my students to do the same for their own families stories.
I have been slowly introducing graphic novels to my classroom library and find they are always signed out. This is another I can add and hopefully my students will love it just as I do.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan begins on its endpapers where the reader is immediately confronted with sixty diverse immigration portraits, people young and old of varying ethnicities. These faces look melancholy, tentative, nervous, angry or lost, but never happy, thus setting the somber mood of this sepia-toned journey of one man. His travels, from beginning to end, are both familiar yet strangely
unfamiliar as he leaves a homeland he shares with giant serpentine creatures and enters a new yet equally whimsical land.
The reader must infer much as the pictures tell the tale in this wordless graphic novel. With careful attention to detail, however, one quickly understands that The Arrival is a universal and timeless story of a young man leaving his own country in search of a better life for himself and his family. Such journeys are rarely without risk, hardship, confusion and indignities, which Tan expresses with originality, poignancy and gritty honesty. The time period and setting clearly depict the Ellis Island experience, yet it’s not quite that simple. The landscape and animé-type creatures are bizarre and surreal. The familiar steam locomotive and paper boy of the early 1900’s share pages with boats floating in the air, giant modern statues of birds and cone shaped structures. These unfamiliar images help the reader step into the shoes of the immigrant entering a land he or she does not understand.
The impressive images, while strange and intriguing, seem to represent what we know of civilization: shelter, industry, transportation, food. The real strength of this book, however, lies in its message of the bond of humanity. Despite the indignities of his unpleasant medical tests while being “processed,” despite his difficulties communicating upon arrival and despite his inability to find employment, the lone traveler finds people. He finds people who share their own terrifying stories about war and amputations and missing children, people who share their jobs and their food. People who help him find shelter and a bed. The story ends on a hopeful, happy note amidst loving scenes of
the traveler’s reunion with his wife and young daughter. As with Rifka and her straw Star of David and Pushkin book of poems in Letters from Rifka, and with Grisha’s coat in The Memory Coat, the man in The Arrival finds comfort in the memories represented by the tangible, his family photo.
The Arrival
Shaun Tan’s book holds something for everyone but needs repeated readings to flesh out the story and allow for deeper understanding. Repeated readings help the reader to continue to find new nuances Every reader can take something away from his book, The Arrival. The story will impact those who are directly connected to the immigrant process through Ellis Island immediately but lets other readers make new connections at every reading. This was the beauty of the book for me giving me the opportunity to touch the past through the connection of my own grandparents journey to America. Based on the great waves of immigration at the beginning of the century the immigration process will never be the same again for any brave soul who makes a new life in a new land. Mr. Tan has captured that point in time when brave people in desperate situations grasped a slender straw to transform themselves and their lives for the better and provided a glimpse of the countries that opened their arms to these lost souls.
Breathtaking. Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival provides readers with an experience like no other. Tan invites his readers to embark on a journey and experience immigration through the eyes of a man in an unknown land. Unlike most novels, The Arrival is void of all words. Instead, Tan eloquently tells the tale of immigration through the graceful string of detailed images. Ultimately, Tan reinforces the idea that literacy takes on many forms, including the understanding of graphic images.
The audience travels along with the protagonist from his native land where he and his family are haunted by a horrific dragon tail, which may in fact symbolize some form of oppression. In efforts to escape the tight grasp of oppression, this courageous man sets out alone to a new country with hopes to find a better life for him and his family. As he sets foot on this new land, the protagonist encounters the conflicting emotions associated with the “immigration station.” While he is excited to find a better life, he is also confronted with frustration, confusion, and doubt as he must partake in a number of questionnaires, examinations, and interviews.
Upon arrival, the protagonist encounters other immigrants who once traveled the same path. We learn that each person fled to this new land for different reasons. Whether they were escaping slavery, genocide, or war, each immigrant left with the hopes of finding opportunities for a better life.
Shaun Tan’s graphic novel is set apart from all others in the sense that it combines both realistic and fantastical images in order to convey a specific theme. Although some images may appear fantastical on first glance, a deeper examination illustrates that all images are reminiscent of something which exists our lives. Ultimately, Tan’s novel pushes the reader to expand their mind. Tan encourages his audience to take a deep breath, slow down, and savor the meaning behind the images. The plot is not handed to the reader on a silver platter. Instead the reader must earn the right to truly understand the deeper message found within the story.
In my opinion, The Arrival by Shaun Tan is beyond a well-recognized graphic novel...it is an experience that readers of all ages can enjoy. In an effort to create a logical story in their minds, the reader must reconcile the strange yet common images to their background knowledge about immigration. Shaun Tan allows the reader to view the journey through the eyes of an immigrant and experience a variety of feelings of wonder, confusion, terror, and sadness.
Throughout the carefully drawn and positioned images, Tan depicts the journey of a male protagonist who immigrates to a strange, foreign land. Tan's use of symbols instead of language and surreal images creates a timeless and placeless world.
The novel begins with a man leaving his home to immigrate to a new world. After traveling on a steam train, he boards a crowded ship. When he arrives at the harbour, he sees a fantastical world, but cannot enter it until he has passed a series of inspections. When these are completed, he is dropped into his new world by an elevator-like box attached to a balloon.
As the protagonist explores his new world, he attempts to find a sense of belonging that he has just lost when he left his native land and family. Although he sees common images, they are strange and surreal. For example, there is a transportation system but it flies. He also deals with a communication barrier as he struggles to translate the foreign symbols.
At the end of the novel, the protagonist is reunited with his family. It is clear that his daughter has acquired a sense of belonging when she is helping a newly arrived immigrant in the last image of the book. This sugggests the cyclical nature of immigration as more immigrants assimilate to their new home.
Interwoven within his story are the stories of other immigrants which makes the experience more universal. Shaun Tan incorporates these memories to further expand the scope of his novel. Also embedded within the novel are images of fantastical creatures and flying birds that force the reader to reexamine the book and connect the events where these items are included. Shaun Tan's graphic novel The Arrival is truly a masterpiece for all ages.
I would also like to mention the theme of belonging that Shaun Tan refers to on his website. This theme occurs throghout The Arrival and his other works. During this journey, the characters both lose a acquire a sense of belonging. The main protagonists leaves his sense of beloning when he leaves his native land and family. As he begins to experience his new world and build social relationships with other immigrants that relate their journey, he begins to acquire a sense of belonging. His sense of belonging is found when he is reunited with his family.
This theme is also present in Shaun Tan's personal life as he deals with where he comes from, being of mixed cultures. It is his opinion that all people deal with this feeling as they discover their own identity.
As far as the connections to teaching and learning, it is apparent that this book can be part of a unit on immigration or to teach viewpoints or interpretation. As said in the podcast, even young children in elementary school can make sense of this novel. Although many teachers may be reluctant to use it, they may be surprised when they discover their students' interpretation.
Shaun Tan amazingly tells his emotional, thought provoking, immigrant story without using a single word. The emotions and story structure that he is able to weave throughout this graphic novel are proof of his talent. The story tells about a man moving to a strange land without his family. It is difficult to tell if this story is set in the past or in the future, both real and surreal images allow you to believe it is both past and future at the same time.
I believe Tan is trying to tell a story of immigration and personal interactions in society. While in this new land the main character has a few acquaintances that appear to help him in some form or another. As an American this story reminds me of those stories I have heard from immigrants to this country. They all have a common theme of fear in the new land, making new personal connections while in the new land, hope for more advantages and choices in life (be it for them or their children), and eventual success in this new land.
While there are many symbols throughout the text I believe it is the birds that symbolize the main character’s hope in the new land. They always appear before each new event in the story. The first being when the boat arrives in the new land, and the next when a major flock of birds appear as he arrives at a friend’s house after giant men with fire extinguishers frighten the town. This is a story you can enjoy again and again, each time finding something new to ponder.
At first read, I found The Arrival difficult to understand. So many surreal images, unreadable symbols, symbolism and absent text that trying to comprehend the story became difficult.
But, after a second and third read I became intrigued by the storyline, trying to fit all of the pieces together.
Shaun Tan did an amazing job of telling the story of immigration, without actually telling us through words. His images were able to do all of the telling in though-provoking ways.
The main character, the protagonist, leaves his wife and daughter behind to journey to a new land that promises freedom and bountiful opportunities. Upon arriving, however, he soon learns that this new land has many nuances with which he is not familiar. He cannot speak the language, nor can others understand his. He finds a modest place to live and begins his search for employment. Along the way be befriends other immigrants who share their stories of struggle with him. Through these interactions, he begins to feel he is not alone. Ultimately, in the end, he is reunited with his family. One can only hope that they have escaped the repression they felt in their native land.
This graphic novel depicts the endless hardships faced by immigrants when traveling to a new land in order to ulimatley find happiness.
I believe readers of all ages will take away with them an appreciation of the struggles that immigrants faced, both in their native land and in their new land.
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