Book Review:
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
by Heidi King
Tan's imagery of the small woman who was forced into shoveling coal into the furnace within a monolithic industrial complex speaks of sexism and globalization writ large...I would offer students to "take a walk" with this section for a mini essay along with a word bank including such vocabulary as: coercion, classism, military industrial complex, dehumanization, free will, economic exploitation, isolation.
I appreciated Tan's use of what appeared to be dunce caps for the military uniforms. Tan's full page renderings of the military parade of a marching heard of drum-thumping dunce cap wearing drones is set opposite the full page image of skeletons in darkness. I would ask my students to analyze these to pages, or perhaps just free write after seeing them. It might be useful to initiate a conversation to invite sharing about "group think" or times when we have gone along with the crowd just because it seemed to difficult to choose otherwise. A more complimentary interpretation of the military head gear might compare it with the Tin man in the Wizard of Oz, who felt he had to get his heart from the Wizard, or a higher authority.
Tan's unusual little animals popping out of tea kettles or appearing as if from nowhere befriending and paying attention to immigrants or ...hmmm....gigantic animals featured centrally in the metropolis...aspects of life which are ubiquitous, different for each of us, with some basic commonalities. Tan omits being more graphic concerning more adult themes, choosing artistic metaphors such as the whimsical sperm-shaped creature showing up on the young man's bed licking him as he wakes and again, in another wake up scene on a later page, being patted by him.
The omission of any characters with African features was curious for me. I would ask my students if they think each publication should include all races in order to be considered to have high academic quality. Is Tan's book intended to be a comprehensive representation of immigrant experience? If not, what are the effects of using such a piece with races who are not represented? Women were certainly represented less often and as less powerful characters in "The Arrival". Does this make Tan's book less valuable? Does anyone notice that there are only 22 females of the 60 characters inside the front cover (that's assuming the gender neutral drawings are female.) Perhaps this is too picky.
The beauty and truth contained in Tan's book are unique and deep. It seems wise to take with us all the ways he has opened our minds and hearts, noting the gaps as opportunities for our own future research and writing.
Heidi King is an English teacher at South Philadelphia High School. She joined Philadelphia Writing Project in 2014 after attending the ELL Invitational Summer Institute.