Discussion & Reflection

Before this class, I’ve never written journal entries so consistently and so often. At the beginning of the semester, I thought it would be a major pain to write journal entries almost every single week. Turns out, I was pretty wrong. Not only has it sharpened my analytical skills and how to process my thoughts into words, but it has taught me to actively read instead of passively read. I used to just read the words in a book without fully digesting what they meant but now I can gladly say that I am able to fully understand what I’m reading (most of the time anyways).

While I’m reading, I actively take notes and think about what the author is truly trying to convey to me as a reader. This applies to movies as well; I am able to fully grasp a scene in a movie better now. It’s interesting to find out what the hidden meaning is and not just what the words are literally saying. What I like about my entries is that they delve into the aspects of the passage that I just read and causes me to think even deeper about the passage itself. In many of my journals, I used direct examples to further demonstrate my analysis. I find that without examples, my entries would not be successful at all. What I dislike about my entries is that they usually don’t go as deep as I want them to go. After writing the entries, I usually find something from that passage that I may have overlooked and want to analyze it more. If I had analyzed deeper and realized this earlier at the time that I was writing my entry, they would have been much more interesting and thought provoking.

For me, note taking is completely different than journaling. Note taking is a singular task where you just write down what’s on the board or write down what the teacher says. There is usually little to no thought process while note taking. While writing a journal, you are required to think deeper than what the author or director is explicitly telling you. You must find and analyze something that is unique to the story or character. We may think of it in our heads after reading a passage, but completely analyzing something and writing it down allows us to complete our thoughts and create something great.

Journal entries in this course have served different purposes for me based on the media of our texts. When writing about literature, for example, I find my journal entries to be more exploratory. My first sentence answers the question I am responding to, rather directly, and the rest of the journal is a process of discovering how my claim is supported by evidence in the text. I notice that I have a knack for embedding quotes into my writing which I feel makes my journal entries on written works more complete and my opinions more credible.

Journal entries are nothing like note-taking for me. In fact, it is based on the notes I take that I write my entries. I don’t find journal writing redundant due to my additional note-taking but substantiating—a way to flesh out the ideas I have only jotted in the margins of the text.

However, when writing about film, my writing becomes much more technical and the entries serve as practice for enhancing my descriptive summarizing skills. When I write about film, I tend to have all of the evidence in the types of shots and angles employed and inductively come to a conclusion on meaning as opposed to having a general opinion and returning to the text to pick out my evidence when I read literature.

Overall, journal entries allow me to reflect more fully about the ideas I have while reading literature or watching films by writing about those ideas.

The protagonist is baffled and overwhelmed by his new home, and everything around him is strange. He is lost and frustrated by the unfamiliarity of the environment and surroundings. The words and characters that appear around the city in this new world are confusing and make no sense. Tan does this so that we understand the protagonist’s experience and bewilderment. The letters look like symbols that resemble hieroglyphics, but could also be a combination of multiple languages. Tan includes somewhat familiar aspects in the new world that can be connected to something that we understand. For example, some of the letters look like letters from the Latin alphabet but they are upside down, mirrored, or in another orientation.

The most interesting part regarding words and symbols is one poster that a man is carrying in chapter three. The protagonist is waiting for the flying boat in the same way he would if he were waiting for a train. On the platform a man in the corner is carrying a sign with visible Chinese characters. These are the only clear cut symbols that we can recognize throughout the graphic novel. Those characters mean Tan in Chinese, but even more striking, they are the same characters for my last name in Chinese.

One of the first images shown after the protagonist gets off of the ship to his new home depicts the immigration hub for this place against the larger image of this new city in the background. This image resonated with me because, especially after all of the readings we have done for class, it looks like a fictional, fantasy Ellis Island. The maze of people waiting on line, the cramped yet efficient structure of the place, and the beckoning, hopeful image of the glorious new city waiting for these people on the other side all bring Ellis Island and the experiences that millions of immigrants have had there to mind.

However, the distinctly surreal qualities of this image causes this place to clearly differ from Ellis Island. All of the inscriptions on the signs in the immigration center and on the buildings in the distance are in a foreign language entirely invented/contrived by Tan. This, as well as the overall surreal, fantasy-like illustration of the Tan’s city, places the reader into the protagonist’s shoes in the sense that the reader feels like just as much of an outsider to this city as a result of having no knowledge of its language whatsoever and of having never seen a city quite like this before.

Lucia Lopez

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival tells the story of a man immigrating to a new, foreign country for the first time. Wordless, the book shows the reader the struggles of those who travelled to other countries in search of socioeconomic freedom for themselves and their families. Although the illustrations tell a captivating story, Tan’s artistry is shown right in the beginning, before the book even starts- on the title and publication pages.

There are two title pages; the first one the reader sees is written in an illegible language, alluding to the language barrier most immigrants face when they travel to a foreign country. The second title page is written in English as well as in a different font. The two title pages have similarities in that they are both look like official documents and are yellowed to appear old, as if they were handed down. They also have marks on them from tape and dirtiness.

The first title page and the publication page both have smaller documents printed on them along with stamps. These are reminiscent of the kinds of documents immigrants such as those who came through Ellis Island had filled out for them on their journeys. The first title page seems to be meant to confuse the reader a little bit and take them out of the world they know where they understand everything and their surroundings are familiar. Tan tries to make the reader have the mindset of someone who can’t understand what they’re seeing or reading. The only word in English is “inspection,” not making the first page very welcoming to the reader.

The second title page is in English and although it is all illustrated, the center looks like a photograph was taped to the page. In the “photograph,” there is a man looking behind him. It reinforced the theme of his leaving his home country, and he might be looking back at his family and everything else he left. There is a border around the “photo” that looks very detailed and delicate, and reminiscent of old European photos. These first few pages evoke a strangeness and unfamiliarity that is present through the protagonist’s story.

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival uses whole pages to display visual media elements often seen in film, such as panning outward to expand the storyline of the main character to a whole generation of immigrants.
The opening sequence of Part II begins zoomed on a picture of the nameless protagonist’s family. The sequence continues with a frame by frame pan outwards. We see that the protagonist somberly sits in front of the picture while eating. As the image zooms outward, we realize that not only is our protagonist suffering this lonely journey, but also thousands of other immigrants have left behind their families to help them survive. In this sequence, Tan manages to enamor the reader with the personal story of the protagonist, while also connecting his story to the overarching history of immigration in the late-19th to early-20th Century. The outward pan sequence that begins Part II establishes the protagonist of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival as an Everyman in immigrant history.

Throughout Shaun Tan’s illustrative book, The Arrival, the author indicates a tale of immigrants coming to America for the first time. What they expect to see when they arrive is unclear to them. Most hope for opportunity to come their way, while others do it because the suffering in their native countries is unbearable. Either way, many of these immigrants felt they didn’t have a choice but to leave. It wasn’t something they wanted, but rather what they must do to survive or prosper. In retrospect, they were weary about coming over in the first place, and now they can’t turn back.

One of my favorite biblical stories is that of Lot and his wife. When God orders them to leave the city of sin, they are also instructed not to look back. Lot listened to his Lord’s orders while his wife made the mistake of glancing back, resulting in her turning to a pillar of salt. Some may argue that she peeked behind her because she felt nostalgic towards her prior hometown. How could anyone blame her? In the case of the immigrants who flooded New York Harbor in the early 20th century, they didn’t have an omnipotent being advising them not to look back. However, when the immigrants glared back, all they can see is the ship that brought them from their homeland.

On the title page, a square picture of a man with a hat is displayed. He is a good example of looking back, as the reader cannot view his face – his head is turned away facing what was behind him. The other page that includes the publishing information has such information inscribed on an inspection certificate. One that would resemble what an immigrant would receive on Ellis Island. Graphic designs pierce the page to create an aesthetically antique look.

All in all, the immigrants may not have wanted to come to America. Their decisions were based on their need to live or their desire to succeed. Some came with hopes of going back, although rare, this was their dream. And America provided them with a way to achieve such a dream.

Name: Yashoma Boodhan

Type: Video Project

Description: A short personal interview with my aunt, Nadia, about her immigrant experience from Trinidad to the United States. At the moment, I am thinking about incorporating still photos with the interview. I will be using iMovie to help me put the video together.

Shaun Tan’s novel The Arrival is a wordless graphic novel that depicts the journey of a migrant from an unnamed poor city to a new and fantastical one. The actual names of these places don’t matter because this story can apply to any immigration story. Its purpose is merely to create the tone of the experience of an immigrant from their perspective. Tan incorporates fantastical elements to strengthen the feeling of being in a foreign place.

The creature on the cover is one of the fictional characters that is present throughout throughout the book. When the immigrant moves into his home he feels lost and confused after a hard day and then he finds the creature. He sets it free but it stays on his window sill and keeps him company. This creature suddenly makes him feel less alone and acts kind of as his guide as he explores the new city he has found himself in. This creature is his companion that has dog like characteristics. It represents the friendliness that is possible in such a foreign place. Without exchanging any words, they have an understanding that they need each other. There is no need to speak the same language or even be the same species to become friends. This is apparent with the migrant’s other interactions with people throughout the book as he tries to learn the ways of this new city.

The publication page also represents a statement that Tan is making. It is a representation how diverse people are. The images seem to be identification photos similar to what an immigrant would have on their paperwork upon arrival in a new country. They all have their own identity and culture but they are all connected by the fact that they are people. Any two people can have a meaningful interaction even if they are very different or don’t share a common language. Because there are no words in this book one must infer the meaning of the illustrations. Based on the appearance of the people depicted in the publication page the differences between them are apparent. Despite these differences the book proves that we all share in the human experience and should not judge people only based on their appearance.