;)
The Arrival
Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (2006) is a treat to read, telling the story of one migrant’s journey solely through surreal illustrations. Our main character leaves behind his home, travels across the ocean, and arrives in a unfamiliar country to make a new home, where his family eventually joins him. By omitting any form of recognizable language or writing, Tan conveys the language barrier that the migrant faces—and puts the reader in his shoes. Both the character and the reader are forced to attend carefully to visual cues to make sense of a disorienting world. Yet despite the fantastical setting of The Arrival, Tan’s illustrations include details reminiscent of “real-world” histories, like Ellis Island, that remind us how his tale is rooted in the real immigrant experiences.
-NK