Shaun Tan is an Australian author and illustrator of the “silent” graphic novel, The Arrival. It is an illustrated story depicting the shared moods of refugees when they take the plunge and move from their home because of a dangerous factor. It is a story of every migrant, refugee and displaced person. Tan has created this silent graphic novel using certain techniques to captivate his audience. These techniques include; Symbolism, Prominence of visual elements and the use of colors and shades. The two pages which display these techniques are 111 and 112. Elements- Symbolism In the arrival, pages 111 and 112, the changing of seasons is depicted with a tree changing form, growing to wither and back. A tree which bears fruit or leaves is often a sign of life. In movies green trees and the sun shining sets a cheerful atmosphere. Pages 111 and 112 show a tree withering to create another layer full of life spreading its seeds. Later it then bears fruit for the surrounding animals to feed off and then withers away to a skeleton. This may represent the sacrifices refugees have to make. Their life is cheerful but then there is a disaster, there is an escape from the disaster, so they take it which then leads to them finding a new home. The representation of withering can be seen refugee arriving in Australia only to be put into a detention camp. …show more content…
When the visual representation of the plant in both pages is analyzed closely you can see that Shaun Tan has made each season have its own type of plant associated with the season. An example for autumn is a leaf that withers into spring which is represented as a dandelion. By using these plants, the reader can see the relation of the plants and make out the seasons and symbolism. The use of tone is also implemented in the graphic novel through the sketching direction. This is a more artistical factor but still creates a better definition for the
Though they begin as scared kids and wish to be invisible, the characters in “Refugee” must become more mature to protect their families by Stepping up when times are hard and difficult to accomplish what they needed to accomplish
Images can have a powerful effect on the way a person perceives a story. It can be the line that connects two dots together and adds a visual emotion to just a plain text. Matt Ottley’s multimodal text, Requiem for a Beast, uses illustrations, music, text and changes in point of view to highlight the major themes that develop throughout the text. Themes such as reconciliation and the Stolen Generation are explored and the hardships that the Aboriginal people endured are present as well. The Stolen Generation is interpreted as a time when Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes and then taken under custody of the Australian Government.
The text chosen for this unit id the book Refuge by prominent Australian writer Jackie French (2013). Refuge follows the story of Faris, a young refugee feeling from his homeland with his grandmother to Australia. On the dangerous boat journey from Indonesia to Australia, they encounter a terrible storm where Faris falls unconscious and wakes up living his dream life in Australia. However, he has no recollection of how he got there. Whilst on the beach, he meets a strange group of children all from different times and places. Faris soon discovers that each child is like him, a migrant who travelled to Australia searching for a better place. Each child is living in their own ‘dream’ Australia and the beach provides a sort of ‘refuge’ from reality for them. Eventually, Faris has to make the decision to either continue living in this dream land or face his reality. This book is interesting as unlike other refugee texts, this novel serves to tell the multicultural history of Australian immigration. French relays the more than 60 000 year old history of people travelling to Australia by boat and makes the statement that all immigrants and refugees need to be treated with empathy and understanding.
In John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, he uses diction and figurative speech to depict the beautiful autumn season to show how inspiring and uplifting nature is to man. Updike chooses autumn as the season to set his story in because generally, it is the season that has the most vivid vibrant colors in nature such as the ripe apples which are described as “red
The small strip across the top of the visual, presents us with an alternate world that is natural and heaven-like where numbat-like creatures are suspended upon tree branches. The gaze of the numbat-like creatures leads us to the quote, “They didn’t live in trees like we did”. Through the inclusion of text Tan portrays that the numbat-like creatures don’t understand the rabbits. This quote does not show any strong emotions, but instead the blatant tone bestows a ‘clueless’ feeling to us, the responders. This section is very small in contrast to the rest of the image showing the rabbits. This symbolically represents the unprecedented manner in which the rabbits came and quickly “made their own houses”. At observing the picture more closely, we can conclude that where the numbat-like creatures are sitting, the sky is lighter compared to where the rabbits are placed; implying that the lighter colour is the time the numbat-like creatures were familiar
The scene is first set up through the personification of the sun. The poet uses interesting diction and phrases, such as “dipping” and “geometries” to describe nature. The sun is described with human characteristics, “build[ing]” these “geometries and orchids” and “riding/The last tumultuous avalanche”. It is like an almighty being that is capable of anything, including the controlling of nature. The poet wants to portray nature as a hidden yet powerful force that should not be seen as a simple concept. Contrasts,
Go Back To Where You Came From is an Australian documentary/reality show in which participants are given the opportunity to experience what the life of refugee and asylum seeker can be like, albeit edited and packaged for an audience. During the course of the three hour long series, the six individuals not only have the chance to get under the skin of a refugee in terms of achieving a greater degree of insight into what being a refugee really means, but also to get on the viewing audiences nerves in perhaps all or any of the of the first three senses described above. Moreover the refugees participating in the series may ‘get under the skin’ of the programme participants and the
Finally, camera angles and shots were used cleverly to draw the viewer into the journey of the six Australians and the lives of the refugees. Close-ups were used to capture emotions and feelings of the characters. For example, during the immigration raid in Malaysia, close-up camera shots showed the fear, confusion and also shock on the six Australians. Close-ups were also effective
The Arrival is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images, it was illustrated by Shaun Tan in 2006.
Images are a universal language that can be communicated and read by everyone. An image can be used to portray a simple conversation, a deep meaning or emphasize a cause happening in our world. However, understanding the complex meaning behind the images depends on an individual’s interpretation and observation. In the Graphic Novel, “The Rabbits” by John Marsden and Shaun Tan’s demonstrate a cause happening in our society from a very long time ago. The impact rabbit invasion made to the indigenous people and their land. Through illustrations, quotes, and symbolism, the ideas are well communicated throughout the book. In our society, most of the people don’t take responsibility for others; unless there is a possible outcome that would favor their own self-interest. As humans we are selfish and only tend look out for ourselves and our needs. We do not focus on how our
The theme of the poem is loss. The seasons changing and turning impure are signs of that. Personification is used to express those words better in the poem. Personification is used on the word nature to help describe
The first landscape feature that is described are, “the tops of trees” (Chopin 203). Trees are commonly attributed to nature and the symbol of life. Although the author has attributed the trees in this story with the literary term personification, as the trees, “were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 203). The author has attributed the trees to movement as the protagonist begins to desire to be in the cycle of nature. The protagonist relates to the trees because the trees are no longer weighed down by the heavy snow, thus allowing the trees to grow again, which is similar to the protagonist, as she is no longer confined by her husband, but she desires to be rebirthed (Lucas). Consequently, the protagonist was learning her desires to participate in life as an independent individual and to have restrictions a memory in the past. Therefore, the protagonist is beginning to participate down the path of becoming
Compare and contrast Auden’s and Faulks’ use of detail establish a feeling of alienation in ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘The Last Night’
Published in March 2016, Asylum is a complex, fractured novel that hovers on the border of reality and unreality. It is the most recent work by author John Hughes, whose novel The Idea of Home received the Premier’s Award for Nonfiction in 2005. The tale of Asylum is intriguing, a Kafkaesque allegory that binds the strangeness felt by refugees seeking asylum, with an image of purgatory borrowed from classical works of fiction. It is split into two acts, and within these acts, multiple fragments. The reader encounters excerpts from reports and inquiries as well as ‘Legends’ of both ‘The Doors’ and ‘The Place’. The landscape of the text is split into three places, ‘Sanctuary’, the ‘Doors’, and ‘Place’. Its protagonists are Baba and Ash, and
The poet speaks of autumn, the season of fog and production. The first line portrays autumn as a period of growth. Autumn is a close friend of the maturing sun. The word “maturing” is used to describe the shorter daylight of winter. Together, autumn and the sun help the vines that wrap around thatched roofs bear fruit. The image of growth persists in the following lines; the poet describes plants and fruits “bending” or changing shape in reaction to their development: trees bend with the weight of ripening apples, gourds grow in size, and kernels develop in the centers of hazelnuts. Flowers continue to multiply until the bees feel as if warm days will never end. Summer has made its harvest so bountiful that it’s described as “o’er-brimmed” or bursting.