The Arrival by Suan Tan (3 Pts.)

     I think the story of "The Arrival" perfectly encapsulates the idea of a stranger in a strange land, or in this case, the experience of immigrants and refugees who have traveled from far and wide to make their new life in a distant country, far away from the familiarity of friends and family. I especially love how Tan is able to depict all of this without the use of words. In the first part we see a man packing a family portrait into a singular suitcase; one only big enough to fit the essentials of life that he will be taking with him on his long journey. As he says goodbye to his wife in child, we see looming in the sky dozens of dark, smokey tendrils of some ginormous unseen monster twisting and contorting around every street corner. Tan, without the use of words, has this abstract means by which he creates a sense of tension and danger. While the exact meaning of these black tendrils is loose -- Is it war? Famine? Disease? Poverty?-- there is an undeniable connotation to its vagueness. It's inhospitable. Hostile. It's everywhere, and demands escape; and so the man must leave his family behind to set out and find a new home, a more hospitable one.  

    A man he meets while going to buy food tells a very similar tale. Giant humanoid beings in hazmat suits with large, vacuum-like hoses sucking up the people on the streets below like ants. Towering flames on the horizon as smoke billows up into the sky. Again, the exact definition of this imagery is lost, but the feeling it brings about is clear; and there are still more stories that he learns as the story progresses.  

    Something else that the lack of words does well to emphasize is the undeniable language barrier that exists between the main character and the people in the new land that he arrives in. We see a page in the second part of the story where the man is being processed by immigration and the clear frustration and confusion on his face as he tries to hold up the picture of him and his family is evident. In a way, by removing the use of words entirely, Suan Tan has put us into the shoes of the immigrant, fresh off of the boat with no idea of where to go or what to do. And as he wanders the streets reading maps that he can't understand, and meeting new people, as the reader we feel like we are finding our way along with him.