The Arrival and Me

Shaun Tan's, The Arrival, had a profound impact on me. Both sides of my family immigrated to America in the early 20th century via Ellis Island, so needless to say The Arrival was a reality for my family. Ironically, there are no words to express within this comic "book". Books are supposed to have words, right? Shaun Tan proves that wrong. Aside from a strange language beyond any readers' comprehension, Shaun Tan concocts a story that's all too relevant to our time. He packs heart, good humor, and personality into every finely crafted image.

Just by viewing the first page of the story, which is a compilation of various head shots of people of varying races and fashions, I could tell what the story was about. And that's fascinating to me. How is it possible that I could understand what the story was going to be? Was it the look on the people's faces? How they dressed? How all the pictures looked lined up like some official government document? Or was it the odd mixture of hope and pain in the eyes of each individual drawn on that page? Shaun Tan tells his story of a man immigrating to a new, whimsical world to find a better job. How could I get that from just pictures? Well, the pictures show the man in a small house, donning a professional suit, a sturdy suitcase, and a fancy hat. The protagonist's wife and daughter have sad looks on their faces but don't seem distraught. Then the man leaves the house and boards a boat packed with many other strangers dressed similarly: like they're going somewhere.

Shaun Tan utilizes what readers know about immigration, or simply going somewhere new, to tell his tale. The mind is a strange creature, but Tan shows us that it's a beautiful one.