Given the time this review is being written, I
can’t guarantee the quality of this initial post. I’ll be going back later and editing this
into a good and proper review.
Anyway, to start the semester off, we begin with The
Arrival by one of my favorite authors and illustrators, Shaun Tan. Although we shelf this particular piece in
the children’s book section at the college library, The Arrival is a
piece that can speak on many different levels to a variety of readers, without
every having to pen a single word.
By heavily focusing on characters’ gestures and
expressions, specific timing between panels, and the framing of characters and
their environments, Tan weaves the story of a man who leaves his family to try
and start a new life for them in a new country.
If Tan had been unable to depict these elements strongly, the point of
the piece would be lost, as would the reader.
By removing exposition and dialogue – and going so far as to remove
familiar symbols and letters – the reader becomes even closer to the main
character of the story by making them feel as lost and foreign as the man
trying to cope with new surroundings, new cuisine, and new language. Lack of narration or dialogue not only allows
for the narration to flow smoothly (preventing readers from being bogged down
by excessive exposition), but eliminates the 4th wall separating the
readers from the characters – in a way, the reader is there, side by side with
the main character, experiencing the same things he is as they happen. Suddenly, the impact of what is occurring to
the main character is much stronger.
Some things of interest to me revolved around the
imagery Tan relied on to create almost a time-period for the piece. I was immediately reminded of the late 1800s and mid 1900s
for a number of reasons: the draconic silhouettes slinking about the main
character’s homeland could be compared to the dread felt during the time of
WWII, with the imminent threat and terror of the Nazis looming over everyone’s
heads; the sprawling and over-populated city he comes to is reminiscent of the
tenement housing found in cities like New York during the turn of the century.
