Part IIĪfter disembarking their ship, the new arrivals must go through an immigrant processing procedure. The bottom of the image shows a sea of darkly clothed arrivals divided into rows.
Smokestack-like objects stand in the background, surrounded by clouds and white spheres. A high-ceilinged, arched room featuring banners that display the local culture's invented language. The arrival hall at the immigrant processing point. Without words to explain why the man is leaving, Tan relies on the symbolic tentacle-tail shadow to suggest that the man is escaping whatever oppression the menacing appendage represents, whether that is poverty, despotism, or some other force beyond the family's control. After several pages of photorealistic illustrations, the tentacle-tail shadow is the novel's first instance of the fantastical entering the story. The deserted streetscape suggests that many people have already left the community for whatever reason. In this illustration, a sense of somberness descends on the family as they see the man off before his voyage. It looks like a dragon tail, or a massive tentacle. Above them looms the shadow of a giant appendage. The last row of images includes the travel brochures and packed trunk, hinting that someone is about to take a trip.įull-page illustration of the man walking with his wife and daughter along their deserted, undecorated street. There is also a sense of drabness in the images. However, the crack in the teapot and cup signal a lack of prosperity. Together, the images speak of a modest, happy life.
The first set of illustrations in the book shows a collection of objects that represent the protagonist's life with his wife and daughter. A six-by-six grid of images showing a folded-paper bird, antique clock, fedora on a wall, cooking pot and spoon, child's drawing of a three-person family, teapot, chipped tea mug and travel brochures, packed trunk, portrait of a man, woman, and little girl.
0 kommentar(er)
