The Arrival

The Arrival, for me, did not arrive when it was supposed to. Since I started this class in the second week I had missed its assignment as required reading and spent the subsequent week scouring the town for a copy to no avail until I resorted at last to Amazon. After I finally did get a chance to read it I now understand what everyone was talking about in that, or perhaps because of it, The Arrival is a powerful novel.

The panel structure is very expressive, there are no real defined edges, rather the frame simply fades off into whiteness in a square shape, or the panel is the entire page, its edges stated by the edge of the paper.

The inability of the reader to understand the dialogue and alphabet of the new country the protagonist enters puts them into the same situation as that man, makes him more relatable. We are in his shoes, we've no backstory or understanding of what this new place is or why he came there or what to expect. And the world that Tan creates is so whimsical and surreal with only vague hints of the familiar that it is almost impossible to comprehend what's happening at any time.

The stories of the other immigrants who help the protagonist adjust to his new life further illustrates how this city is seen as a new beginning for so many people and they are kind and understanding in helping the protagonist adjust to his foreign surroundings. Despite the fact that the stories from the other immigrants are never really stated as being stories the reader can tell through the easy reading of Tan's images.

The Arrival is an excellent illustration of what an excellent storytelling medium pictures alone can become. Within its pages there is a whole fantastic realm to be inspected and the images are so rich that you can come back and read it over and over again and find new tidbits and angles of the story to give it more depth and meaning.