The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is a story about a man’s immigration to a new country. He had to separate from his family from home; he saw everything new—new words, new animals, new food, etc. He faced some struggles, but fortunately, he met his group of friends, he eventually found a job and reunion with his family at the end. The ending is very touching— his family, who eventually became the local people, helped the new immigrants, just like people who had helped them. I think The Arrival is a very compelling story. The novel depicted human interactions and character’s inner feelings very well.

One thing very interesting was the moment when the man arrived at the immigration, and right after he got the stamp on his book, he was put in a box, and the box flew further and further away in isolation. He wasn’t physically put in a box, but the graphic vividly portrayed his inner feeling. From my understanding, it expressed the fact that he came to a realization that he had left his homeland and the feeling of isolation became concrete in his heart. I think it portrayed his feeling very well when there is only graphics presented.
Another interesting example was when he first opened the luggage, the first thing he saw from the luggage was not his necessities but the scene of his family eating dinner at the table. It expressed the character’s psychological feelings directly. Furthermore, the first thing he put up in his room was not other but his family portrait, which clearly presented the character’s traits that he cared about his family a lot.
I used to think that psychological feeling is hard to express through graphics without the help of words. I am surprised how Shaun Tan presented the character’s psychological feelings by graphics. His way of surrealistic expression approach is also fascinating and is definitely something worth trying.