The Arrival by Shaun Tan

            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 4^th 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.