Week 1: Shaun Tan 'The Arrival'

First off, while reflecting on the story I decided that the key point was family with and an awareness of people; all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. Since 'The Arrival' has no words Tan uses repetition of these two very important aspects to help readers understand what's happening. Mind you, he does use tons of other devices to help the story along, such as, flow between panels and value to trigger attention, but the main thing holding this together is the repetition.

A portrait of a mother, father and daughter is frequently present throughout the story and gives the reader familiarity as well as purpose to the story. Once you figure out this man is leaving his family the rest of the story needs no explaining. Every time the portrait pops up it is to show that he is still waiting to see his family again. To enhance this Tan puts a set of 9 images near the beginning and end of the book to wrap it around. Just by the appearance of the objects in the photos and the quality of the objects it is evident that this family has moved on from the dingy beginning to the bright and happier new world.

The idea behind this family stands strongly on the theme of immigration and people. After finishing the comic and thinking about how it tells the story without words I noticed that before the story even begins Tan has put a 2 page spread of portraits of various people from different places around the world. This little thing really shows the thought put behind building a base for the story, as well as the mood. The portraits can suggest what is to come with their expressions and clothes as well as the arrangement of the drawings themselves; like each separate box is a cell containing them that they want to break free from. These portraits signify all of the people this story is about, people living though hardships looking for a better life, and Tan builds upon it more by introducing us to some of these people along the main lead’s journey. Even though we don’t know them and can’t understand them we are able to connect with them through the little snip bits Tan gives us. The story wraps up in a very simple and memorable way. Of all the people we meet through this journey this last girl, who has just arrived in the new world, holds a lot of symbolism. As this family settles down into their new life they end there chapter and pass it along to someone new who needs to adapt to the new world like them. Showing that this book is not just a journey of this man at all, that these people Tan shows before and after the story in a grid of portraits, they all are the story.

In conclusion I feel this story was such a delight to view. The flowing sceneries are defiantly such a great addition to the concept. Everything about if works perfectly as a whole, I have no complaints.