Blog Post #1: The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Week #1 Blog post
The Arrival by Shaun Tan



            “The Arrival” by Shaun Tan has the ability to tell a great story by just using illustrations without words. The focus of the story is about an immigrant who is leaving their home to escape some issue that is affecting them. Shaun Tan said "In Australia, people don't stop to imagine what it's like for some of these refugees. They just see them as a problem once they're here, without thinking about the bigger picture. I don't expect the book to change anybody's opinion about things, but if it at least makes them pause to think, I'll feel as if I've succeeded in something." The use of the illustrations in the story and not including any words allows the reader to insert themselves in the character’s positions instead of reading through words how they feel. I think this is something that the use of just the illustrations helps convey this feeling of being in a foreign place to the reader because for me reading it I would think about what would I feel like if this was me. Another interesting use of not having words included in the story is to see how they try and communicate using drawings really emphasizing the issues of language barriers of going into a different country and needing help. “The Arrival,” tells a story by creating a journey of the character that allows the reader to be in the character’s shoes and goes through the journey of it and feeling how they feel.

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