Henry Burby

MHC 10201

3/25/16

Street Life in a Strange Land

Many stories attempt to tell what it is like to disembark in a totally alien land, and try to portray the alienation of most immigrants who truly know very little about their new home when they first arrive. Though many are very successful, the The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, takes a different, and very effective strategy. It puts readers in the shoes of an immigrant, and allows them to experience a new land themselves. The sequence of eight images, of the street life around the protagonist are equally strange and alien to the reader as it is to the immigrant, and approximates what it might be like to walk the streets of a totally foreign city, without any prior knowledge of its culture, flora, fauna, clothes, etc. The experience is made more realistic by the fact that, accept for the last, each image, is from eye height, and presumably shows the protagonist’s vantage point. Each picture presents the reader with some new element to wonder at. First is the newsboy, selling papers printed with strange symbols which the reader cannot understand. This is a recurring theme in the story. From the title page, the reader is unable to read any of the words in the story. this is exactly what happens to many immigrants, who have no experience with the native language of their new country. The language may be fascinating, or even beautiful (It is both in this story), but if it cannot be understood, it presents a serious problem for a visitor. One example from this story is when the protagonist takes the job putting up signs, and accidentally pastes them upside-down. Simpler issues include not being able to read maps, or understand documents, two more issues for the protagonist. The second picture introduces the strange animals of the new country, and their relationship to humans. The animal seems to be a cat/lizard/owl hybrid of some sort. In the modern first world, it is easy to find images of, and information about, all the discovered animals on the globe. However, in the past, and today in poor areas, this was much more difficult. The reader has the same reaction to this creature that a turn of the century Malaysian immigrant would at first sight of a New York City pigeon. The separation between the protagonist and his surroundings is heightened in later images by the introduction of strange clothing, devices, and food, all which mystify the reader and the protagonist. However, the most powerful element is the little boy standing next to the man being shaved. He stares directly into the eyes of the protagonist, from behind the sheet around his father’s neck, possibly for protection. His unusual hat seems strange to us, but the protagonist’s fedora seems to be equally bizarre to him. While everyone else in the scene ignores, or doesn’t notice, the protagonist, this boy, possibly because of his young age, looks unabashedly at the weird man in the dented, brimmed hat. The reader never learns how intelligent the animal companions are, but it is worth noting that the cat/lizard/owl also stares, possibly for the same reason. In any case, the feeling of not entirely friendly scrutiny is the same in both images. In the final image, the reader separates from the protagonist’s perspective, and sees what the natives do: a confused, lost looking man, trying to find his way around.