PICTURE BOOKS
“Sweet are the uses of adversity.” – William Shakespeare
The Arrival is an amazing work of art that tells the story of an immigrant's struggling as a new arrival in a new land. It is a wordless story, told entirely through pictures alone. The immigrant goes to…America? The genius of Shaun Tan’s work is that he makes the destination ambiguous, so that the feelings and struggles portrayed have a universal application. Through pictures that are a kind of metaphoric fantasy, Tan allows the reader to experience the “foreignness” of a strange land. The strangeness of its foods, its landscape and its culture are all made palpable to us through symbolic means. Images that represent vestiges of its history are juxtaposed with those that reflect its progressive character, making the new land doubly incomprehensible to the foreigner. By using images alone, Tan manages to articulate the difficulties of acclimation in a way that is more powerful than if he had used words. A curious element in the story is the strange creature that emerges when the immigrant arrives in the new land and accompanies him throughout the rest of his journey. What does this creature represent? Perhaps loneliness or fear, but more likely it might stand for any of the feelings that attend such a difficult passage. The unwelcome creature becomes a staple of the immigrant’s life and later attends his daughter. While helping us to understand the experience of the immigrant, Tan enables us to comprehend something more: that to press through adversity is to transform it into a strength, to be passed on as an inheritance to the next generation.
Peppe The Lamplighter. Peppe needs a job – like most poor Italian immigrants around the turn of the 20th century. Problem is Peppe is only about 11 years old. After a long search and many rejections, Peppe finally gets his chance when the lamplighter asks him to fill in while he journeys to Italy to get a wife. Peppe is ecstatic, but such a lowly occupation doesn’t suit his father’s pride – adversity can be found in the most unlikely places! Despite his father’s reproachful remarks, Peppe sets out to work as diligently as he can. However, as time goes on his father’s hurtful remarks wear on him and he begins to question the worth of his work and even himself. When Peppe decides it would be better not to show his face outside the tenement one night, an incident occurs that makes both he and his father realize how very important any job – and any person – can be.
The Arrival is an amazing work of art that tells the story of an immigrant's struggling as a new arrival in a new land. It is a wordless story, told entirely through pictures alone. The immigrant goes to…America? The genius of Shaun Tan’s work is that he makes the destination ambiguous, so that the feelings and struggles portrayed have a universal application. Through pictures that are a kind of metaphoric fantasy, Tan allows the reader to experience the “foreignness” of a strange land. The strangeness of its foods, its landscape and its culture are all made palpable to us through symbolic means. Images that represent vestiges of its history are juxtaposed with those that reflect its progressive character, making the new land doubly incomprehensible to the foreigner. By using images alone, Tan manages to articulate the difficulties of acclimation in a way that is more powerful than if he had used words. A curious element in the story is the strange creature that emerges when the immigrant arrives in the new land and accompanies him throughout the rest of his journey. What does this creature represent? Perhaps loneliness or fear, but more likely it might stand for any of the feelings that attend such a difficult passage. The unwelcome creature becomes a staple of the immigrant’s life and later attends his daughter. While helping us to understand the experience of the immigrant, Tan enables us to comprehend something more: that to press through adversity is to transform it into a strength, to be passed on as an inheritance to the next generation.
Peppe The Lamplighter. Peppe needs a job – like most poor Italian immigrants around the turn of the 20th century. Problem is Peppe is only about 11 years old. After a long search and many rejections, Peppe finally gets his chance when the lamplighter asks him to fill in while he journeys to Italy to get a wife. Peppe is ecstatic, but such a lowly occupation doesn’t suit his father’s pride – adversity can be found in the most unlikely places! Despite his father’s reproachful remarks, Peppe sets out to work as diligently as he can. However, as time goes on his father’s hurtful remarks wear on him and he begins to question the worth of his work and even himself. When Peppe decides it would be better not to show his face outside the tenement one night, an incident occurs that makes both he and his father realize how very important any job – and any person – can be.
Christine,
ReplyDeleteI like BOTH books and their message. They both show difficulty, but neither goes witht the message of victimhood. Both show that if you're down or an outsider, you can strive and you can persevere.
I'm learning a lot from your theme--new authors, new perspectives, and new ways to express ideas that I share with your theme.