These days, when people are asked to go look at museums or artistic places around the boroughs, they use the excuse: “I just don’t have the time!” “The Arrival,” designed by Shaun Tan, is the perfect source of art and culture for those people who are too busy to get outside and immerse themselves in the cultural side of our fine city.

At first, I was a little confused about why we were assigned a “picture book” for a college-level seminar, but after the first five pages I knew exactly why. “The Arrival” is no children’s book, even though that’s the section it’s categorized under in the Queens Library system. It’s an exploration of immigration, cultures of the world, life, death, good, evil and a long list of other topics. The first time I saw a strong example of one of these topics was on the fifth page. The image found there depicts the family the story centers on walking away from their home as the shadow of a tail (of what I believe to be a dragon) hovers above them. This image can be interpreted in numerous ways, but I take it to mean the family has an evil force or encounter lurking ominously in their past (as well as the father’s future).

The strong immigration story involves the father traveling to countries unknown and attempting to settle in there for work and to start life anew. The situation the father was in really makes one think about other immigrant families. Fathers are usually the first members of families to travel to other countries, and the spouse and / or children follow. Such is the cue in “The Arrival.”

One other image that remained in my mind after “reading” the book was the image that showed the progression of a plant through the four seasons. It’s on the fifth and sixth pages in Part V of the book. The reason I like these two pages is because they remind of a picture that hangs in my father’s dental office. It’s entitled “Change” and shows a tree at different times during a year when viewed from different angles. It’s sort of a 3-dimensional photo because you really have to move to see each stage of the tree. “The Arrival” links the cycle of a plant or tree during the year perfectly with stages of life. As the tree began as a lone plant, the father began life anew in another country. As the tree lost it’s leaves only to become whole again in time, the father’s family meets him in the new country in time.

The four seasons of a tree as seen in Part V of "The Arrival."

The book ends with an image showing the daughter of the man who came to the new country helping guide a newcomer to the country. The girl was once a newcomer who needed help finding her way, and now she can help show others the way around her new home.