How does Shaun Tan explore the loss of innocence in ‘The Arrival’?

In life as much as we would love to believe it, we cannot remain innocent and naïve forever. There comes a time where we take the step from being innocent and childlike to becoming more aware of the world around us. The loss of innocence could be something as simple as realizing that your best friends might not be as great as you thought they were, but when looking deep into the loss of innocence there is more severe and traumatizing events that could occur. For example the families of the people that were recently involved in the Malaysia airlines flight, they said their goodbyes as any normal family would but little did they know that their goodbye was not just temporary but for a lifetime. Families sending off their loved one want to believe that they will come back sometime or another but the innocence that has been lost here is the realization that they’re not safe, they’re gone and they will not be coming back.

In a book I have recently read titled ‘Looking For Alaska’ writer John Green explores the idea of loss of innocence almost perfectly. Miles Halter moves away from the comforts of his home and family to Culver Creek Preparatory High School, he knows no one there and is so anxious and scared. He once had his family standing by his side through everything that he went through but he is now faced with the fact that his family will not always be there to guide him through everything and that sometimes we will be alone in the world and have to stand for ourselves.

In Shaun Tans text ‘The Arrival’ just like Miles in ‘Looking For Alaska’ a man leaves his home to go away and create a new, better life for his family somewhere else. The loss of innocence demonstrated in this image is that he goes from being secure thinking that his family will have his back and look up to him no matter what, to going into the big wide world where his family isn’t there with him and he is nothing more than just a mere spec amongst many others. The way the photo shows him staring out the window while eating his dinner