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
