Genre
Graphic novel
Setting and Context
In an invented place in an unknown time, a man leaves a potentially dangerous homeland to establish a new life for his family in a foreign land.
Narrator and Point of View
The wordless novel has no narrator; the point of view stays largely with the man, but at the end of the book begins to follow his daughter.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood are melancholic, curiosity-inducing, and hopeful.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The man is the protagonist; the antagonist is the unknown force that has taken over his homeland.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the story is that the man seeks to establish a safer and more prosperous life in a foreign country despite feeling alienated from the culture and having to be away from his family until he can afford for them to immigrate.
Climax
The story reaches its climax when the man's family arrives to establish new lives in the foreign country.
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Allusions
Tan's illustrations of the immigrant processing facility allude to historical photographs of the Ellis Island arrivals hall off the coast of New York City.
