A Foreign World

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Reading Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival”, I could only think of one story I was told which I actually discussed for my Found Art presentation. The story is of my great-grandfather who immigrated to America from Italy around the period of the 1920’s. My great-grandfather left his hometown in Italy to come to America with the hope of finding the American Dream. Always hearing stories that the streets were “paved with gold”, he was excited to become successful and the rumor of the time was that America was the country to go to for prosperity.

Upon arriving at America’s doorstep on Ellis Island, my great-grandfather soon discovered that prosperity was not an easy task. America was a foreign country to him, people spoke different languages and finding a job and a place to stay were the biggest challenges he faced. Thankfully, he settled on early into an Italian neighborhood where he worked for a well known Italian shop owner. With this early job, he was able to acquire money and a place to stay to start off his new life in America.

After years of saving up and working, he fell in love with the shop owner’s daughter, but was prohibited from seeing her. So, my great-grandfather–in an act of bravery– collected his life savings and ran off with my great-grandmother to form a life of their own in America.

Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival” reminds me heavily of this story that was passed down in my family because of the depiction of an immigrant man leaving his family and coming to a foreign looking city (assumed to be New York). The man’s objective is to eventually bring his family from their own hometown which is under siege from a darkness–depicted by snaking tentacles. After arriving at the city, the man undergoes routine checkups and has a hard time adapting to the culture and the new society he is thrown into. I can only imagine that the grand city of New York looked just as foreign to my great-grandfather as the city is depicted in this book.

Going to a new land must be hard for all immigrants. The adaptation of a mixture of cultures, unfamiliar people, hundreds of languages and a vast empire to explore are just some of the obstacles to face. Shaun Tan depicts all of these hardships in “The Arrival” by showing how the main character learns to settle in to his new life. Eventually, the man becomes confident enough to try the food, mingle with the locals, learn the in’s and out’s of the city, and eventually acquire enough to bring his family over. This simple idea of adaptation to the American culture and the dream of a family is what the American Dream is. “The Arrival” depicts in beautiful picture form what the American Dream is believed to be for foreigners and what our ancestors had to endure to settle on our shores. Although the drawings may sometimes be abstract, I can’t help but feel my great-grandfather experienced many of the main character’s events in “The Arrival” and that the experience depicted is the same for many people who have traveled to the great country of the United States.

-Joseph Valerio

Immigration: Everyone’s Story

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Shaun Tan depicts the common immigrant story in the most unique way I have ever seen. Creating a graphic novel without words is so amazing; it really proves that a picture is worth a thousand words. Even before going into the story, I noticed how the book is created like a worn out photo book. Also the inside covers has passport like photos of many different immigrants.

A man leaves his wife and daughter to immigrate to a better place. His hometown is under some kind of danger. The man only has a photo to remind him of his family. He goes by boat to a foreign land. His arrival to the new land reminds me of the immigration stories to New York. There is a statue of two people shaking hands. It is similar to the Statue of Liberty. The statue represents the unity of different cultures because it shows two different men shaking hands. The man goes through countless checkups and questioning before he receives he is permitted entry. He goes around trying to find a place to live with his limited knowledge of the language. What truly helps is his drawings and body language. His room is small just like the old tenement buildings of the lower east side in New York City. He meets other immigrants who share their story with him. Also the immigrants help him around town; they teach him how to use public transportation and what the best types of food are. The man goes around trying to find a job, eventually he ends up in a factory working with other immigrants who he befriends. Eventually he saves enough money to have his wife and daughter immigrate. In the end we see the daughter helping another immigrant that is lost. Immigration is like the circle of life. When one immigrates he receives help from past immigrants. Once he is settles down, he begins to help the new immigrants get accustomed to the land, and the cycle continues.

Tan’s world in the story combines both new and old items. The people’s clothes are old fashioned. On the contrary, the city has futuristic technology not even existent in 2011. There are flying boats used as public transportation and flying mailboxes. The world Tan created does not exist on earth. Tan even created his own language and his own types of animals. I believe Tan does this to show that immigration is a story that can happen to anyone anywhere at any time. I feel that Tan did an amazing job to show such a point. I enjoyed his graphic novel so much, and I believe it truly depicts an immigrant’s journey.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

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A picture is worth a thousand words.

No, this book has shown me that this is an extreme understatement. The pictures in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival hold so much power and emotion that words could never convey. I am lucky to be able to say I did not have to face the hardships that the main character of this graphic novel did. Nevertheless, as I “read” through the pages, I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I could somehow relate to him.

The images are frank and comprehensible.  The emotions the characters displayed were blatant, but still moving to the point of sympathy. The minute details throughout the pages, like the scratches on a wooden table and the crinkle of a piece of paper, added to the realistic nature of the work. I was able to get lost in the story just as I would have for any movie or novel.

I guess its funny that I consider the drawings realistic, because the pictures of monsters and strange creatures and the peculiar depiction of the city surely are not realistic. Tan uses these motifs to add perspective to the story. For example, Tan uses distorted characters instead of real English letters to share with the reader a sensation of foreignness and unfamiliarity. Likewise, the odd city to us is what this new place was to the main character.

This story could not have been told better through any way other than images. We are not given words to be told the story the same way the main character did not have the language he needed as he lived through it. We, like the main character, desperately try to read lips and faces to be able to tell what is going on and what is to happen next. Tan brilliantly crafted these parallels in emotion, creating this remarkable piece.

The Immigrant Experience

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“The Arrival” by Shaun Tan tells a fascinating story that many can connect to by painting pictures instead of using words. This book is the proverbial representation of how a picture is worth one thousand words. I felt as if was in this foreign, yet magical world while I was reading. More importantly, this is a classic tale of what almost every immigrant goes through as they come to America.

Many immigrants leave their home country in search for a better life for their family, but they also face many challenges, and some they can’t overcome alone. It’s natural for the protagonist’s wife and daughter to cry during the beginning when the protagonist/father/husband leaves. He brings a suitcase full of memories. In my opinion, he brings everything he left behind except his family. People only bring essentials when starting over, but the protagonist is too poor and the most valuable thing he can take along is his memories. He stares at the picture which symbolizes a longing for his family, just like most immigrants who go to another country to fund their family to come over or support their family back home. Another challenge is adjusting to the new life. It is always quite a shock. The protagonist is searching for a job and it takes him a lot of time to get one. First of all, there is a language barrier, so he has to gesticulate. It is hard to make friends or get a job if one doesn’t know the language of their new country. Communication problems puts a greater burden on the protagonists’ struggles. Once he finds a job, he almost immediately loses it because he doesn’t know how things work in the new country. Different culture may lead to doing things differently, or it can, again, be a language barrier. After failing multiple jobs, the protagonist, just like many other immigrants, resort to working in an assembly line. Another vital factor in living standard is that the protagonist lives in a small apartment. It is only two rooms big. And the living rooms seems crowded enough with two tables and a chair. By the way, the protagonist had to draw a picture to articulate what he wanted. This shows that the language barrier, although hard, is not impossible to navigate through. All immigrants have to go through tests in the beginning to see if they are healthy enough, must answer questions, fill out a plethora of paperwork, and wait to do all of that with a horde of people waiting on line. I just like to note that when the protagonist is being checked, and questioned, the place is reminiscent of Ellis Island.

As difficult as the struggles are, immigration also can be quite wondrous. The stray animal that the protagonist becomes friend with is very similar to a dog. It is his greatest companion while he is in the beginning stages of living life as an immigrant. Also, while the protagonist gets on a boat, he asks direction of another immigrant who not only helps him, but explains her life story. It shows how everyone struggles, but there will always people helping each other out. The man with glasses and his son are affable enough to share their dinner with the protagonist. He in returns shows they origami, and they show him their talents. The cordial nature doesn’t just pertain to one people, but to many. The old man whose been through war takes the protagonist to this friends to play some kind of game. Cultures and friends are learned through this, and it is also a way to escape from the struggles, or in a way it takes away the struggles. At the end, when a young lady is lost, the protagonist’s daughter helps her out. This exemplifies that the sincerity of helping immigrants adjust to their new life is continuously passed on, from one person to the next. Some people may have never experienced snow in their lives, and it can be a special time for them. It is new and something they never experienced.

As I said before, I kind of wanted to be in the book. The setting looks so surreal. It’s something I haven’t seen before and it makes me feel like somewhat of an immigrant. I am fascinated by it and want to explore and live in it. It is like what many immigrants think of New York City. New York City is this amazing place, where it only exists in the imagination of most. Some people are just dying to go there. I have the same feeling for the setting in the book. A lot of things, like the hot air balloon, and the magnificent gardens, make me feel like I am a foreigner just like the protagonist feels. I think Tan does this on purpose so that the reader can relate to what an immigrant feels like.

John Adam’s Music Piece

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As I listened to Adams’ composition I found myself lost in the music and my thoughts, while other times, I felt completely aware of every compositional choice he made. While I am not näive enough to think that I knew what was running through Adams’ head when he composed his piece I just wanted to share a few thoughts.

First, I noticed a few major changes in style. While the piece initially starts out as spoken, and street noises, perhaps to indicate the initial shock of the events of 9/11. The basic human sentence structure and communication used by newscasters is symbolized in the simple words used to communicate early in the piece.

Next, the piece moves into a dirge, like a march, symbolizing the constant reminder that exists in the smoldering ruins following the September 11 attacks. This march-like composition leads into a requiem truly “In Memoriam” of the victims of the attacks.

Later on, the piece transitions to include sounds that resemble cutlasses, which reference the quick, seemingly unfounded battles we entered into following 9/11.

Although these points stood out to me in my notes, there were so many other things which could be interpreted from this piece. As I previously stated, there were times I found myself lost in the piece, just as sometimes we lose sight or memory of the attacks on September 11. Then, just as in my daily life, there is a point in the composition which strikes me to remember the events that took place on 9/11.

Finally, the great thing about handling a composition of this size, is the ability of every person to draw something different from it. I look forward to hearing what parts of the piece spoke to which people.

 

See you in another life.

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I know a blog post isn’t mandatory today, but I felt it was necessary to say something since we’ve been discussing 9/11/01 so much these past weeks.

Ten years ago, the United States was brutally attacked by one of the most evil forces this world knows. Many lives were lost, and even more were mentally and emotionally injured.

One decade later, we remember those men, women and children who lost their lives that day. And we look forward to the future.

Whether or not we (or future generations) will remember 9/11 as we do today isn’t the question. It’s how will we decide to live our lives and move past that tragic event while paying respect to it.

To quote a character from the television show LOST, “I’ll see you in another life, brothers.”

God rest the people who have died due to terrorist attacks, and God bless the United States of America.

Carry On

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Through the stories of others we can share the pain of loss and the joy in memories. We can remind each other what it is to cry and grow and ultimately pick up the pieces and move on with our lives, no matter how slowly. Memory is not only a tool of immortalization or honor, but also a retreat and a comfort. In Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, he explores the psyche of a young boy, Oscar, whose father was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. In the book Oscar struggles to make sense of his life but finds comfort in the memory of his father and does all he can to preserve it. Through the character and his book, Foer asks us deep questions like ‘What was it really like to be there?’, ‘Do we dishonor the dead by moving on?’ and ‘What does one do when they’ve lost everything?’.

Writer David Rieff thinks it’s time to move on. In his article, After 9/11, The Limits of Remembrance he discusses the ignored benefits of forgetfulness. It is his opinion that to forget is to heal and to move on. To put so much energy into memorializing, he says, only prolongs feelings of sadness and resent. Pearl Harbor is an adequate example in that the majority of people have ‘forgotten’ the event (very rarely think of it), allowing for peaceful relations with Japan. Rieff’s point is that we must forget to forgive and to carry on with our own lives.

In my own opinion, I value the keeping of memories over ignoring them. To forget may be easier, but blissful ignorance is ignorance just the same. It is when we remember the mistakes of our past that we learn from them. It is when we look back on the memories of lost loved ones that we can enjoy their warmth again, even if only in our own minds. You can’t fully move past a tragedy without forgiveness, but that doesn’t mean we need to lose our past entirely. The middle ground is the destination- that place where we can honor the fallen and forge on as a nation of peace.

-Cali P

9/11

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In class, we discussed how the terrorist attacks of September 11 will be remembered in generations to come. It seems that Pearl Harbor has been mostly forgotten: how many Americans can even identify the day on which the attack took place?

Will the same be the case for 9/11? I would answer, NO. The attack was witnessed by millions of people due to technology, television, and the like. It’s interesting how technology can be used for such nefarious purposes, as seen with terrorism and the Holocaust, and at the same time it can be used to witness the horror – and thereby engrain it in our collective memories. After all, who can forget the image of airplanes flying into the World Trade Center?

9/11 shows, above all things, that nothing in life is permanent or guaranteed. Who would have believed that such an attack could take place, that the Twin Towers could be toppled by a mere nineteen men? If a mere 19 people have the capacity for such evil with such great consequences, imagine how much good can be done by a different group of 19 people – or even by a single person.

Reiff takes issue with President Bush about the cause of the terrorist attacks – namely, the hatred of American freedom. But Bush is absolutely right on this: Freedom is not free.

 

To be continued….

Why forget?

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As members of an international community, us Americans are marred by many tragedies in our lives. But the greatest tragedy of America (or any nation for that matter) would be in forgetting these events. Our “forgetfulness” not only disrespects those that perished untimely but also sugarcoats our fixable weaknesses. In the end, our “forgetfulness” would spell out the untimely fall of our nation.

Although I do agree with Rieff’s assertions that memorials have negative impacts on our society, I see it impossible to try to forget them. It is usually through these hard times, that people become closely bonded. Simply ignoring the reality of these events, entertains the possibility of a weak nation comprised of people who share no kindred. Could there ever be a government (or even a citizen) in such a nation?

At the same time, however, there is also a necessity to view these events with a grain of salt. After 9/11, many innocent immigrants of Indian heritage were often viciously attacked and isolated simply because of a loose similarity (as simple as skin color) to the extremists responsible for the fall of the twin towers. It should be said that this cruelty is also seen in many other occasions, one being the persecution of the Japanese in World War II. Like Rieff, I believe that we lose our rights to democracy once we let ourselves fall victim to the propaganda within memorials because we are compelled to take an act of vengeance to even odds.

Though the clarity of history will often be blurred by influences of different interpretations, the canvas of emotions will always be captured in a memorial. There is no way to comfort someone like Oskar Schell, in Foer’s Incredibly Close & Extremely Loud by telling him that “it never happened.” What Reiff misses is the fact that these events often pull heartstrings that resonate deep within our souls.

Sometimes these strings could vibrate for generations. While it may be true that we are being subliminally bombarded by political mind games, it is also true that we have the option of ignoring these suggestions. This does not take copious amounts of focus; it only takes a shift in how we view things. Instead of the “eye for an eye” style of life, we will be much more productive if we share our pains and seek comfort in the family that America is.

Lost-A Mass of Souls and Words

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I am glad that Adams wanted to achieve a majestic feeling to the music when he started writing it. When I think of the aftermath of death, I think of a heavenly presence-something different than the loud and busy lives of today. After reading through the passage I understand why Adams would link the papers falling from the towers with the “congregated” souls that one would imagine in a large cathedral. The papers falling can also symbolize the number of souls that were lost (or fell) from the towers. These souls can float like the souls in a cathedral. The sense of awe and of something mystical would take control of a person as they stood in the cathedral or outside the towers watching them fall.

I also like the fact that the piece had limited words. Emotions can be said by words, but sometimes, only the language of music can truly express it. Adam’s lack of words in the piece remind me of how many Americans were also at a loss of words when the twin towers fell. The surprise and amazement we felt was not of goodness but of concern and of panic. Yes, we watched the towers fall in amazement but during and after the event everyone was still unable to answer the simple questions of “how” and “why”.