Prior to the start of Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival, Tan includes a two- page section composed of sketches of immigrants, a publication page, and two title pages. These five pages all evoke the idea that Tan’s graphic novel can relate to all immigrants, instead of just one single immigrant. Tan’s sketches show the diversity of the immigrant pool by displaying people of different ages, sexes, and ethnicities. Tan continues this diversity on the first title page where the title of the graphic novel and Tan’s name is written in symbols, reflecting how foreign the country is to immigrants.
Similar to the immigrant sketches, Tan shows diversity through the documents that are imprinted on the first title page. The documents on the first title page are inspection cards, date of birth cards, and other cards that are printed in different languages and show varying types of handwriting. Including documents that are in more than one language emphasizes unity, since it shows how every immigrant experienced entering a foreign country in the same manner. Also, these documents show how all immigrants were almost subjected to being defined through various documents when they immigrated, which removed some differences between immigrants and unified them slightly.
The most noteworthy aspect of this whole section is found on the second title page. On the second title page, Tan includes a drawing of the main character. However, the drawing is a one-fourth profile of the man looking to his left in a suit and jacket. Not including the man’s face in the drawing is striking because it prevents the reader from having a bias against the main character. Instead, the reader just views the main character as a male immigrant rather than looking solely at his race or age. Also, because the man’s face is angled so that it is looking back, it shows that the man seems to be longing for something, such as his family or his home country. The angle of his face could also be included to allow the audience to understand how immigrants felt reserved and alone when coming to a different country.
Essentially, the picture ties the whole motif Tan is evoking throughout the first few pages. It shows how the feelings and homesickness of the man are shared between all immigrants, and they all experience the same examinations and struggles when entering the United States. Instead of focusing on a single man, Tan wanted to show how immigration is the same for everyone; thus, evoking a motif of oneness between all immigrants.
