Alienation
Alienation—the state of being estranged from one's surroundings—is a key theme in The Arrival. The theme first arises when the man encounters the indecipherable language of the new world. He attempts to interpret complicated directions painted on the ground, comparing the symbols to his translation dictionary and map. As the man walks around his new community, taking in the sights and sounds, he has a hunted expression on his face, as if these people's everyday existence is a threatening presence. The man's alienation increases when he moves into his rented room and tries to accustom himself to the strange objects that fill it. But despite the alienation the man initially feels, once he has secured a job and met a few kind locals, he adapts to the culture as other new arrivals have. By the end of the book, the man and his family sit happily in a kitchen full of objects crafted in the ornate style of the local culture. Based on these visual clues, it is clear the man and his family have overcome their alienation and have assimilated to the new world.
Companionship
Explored primarily through the man's relationship to his pet and his encounters with other immigrants, companionship is a crucial theme in The Arrival. Defined as a feeling of friendship or fellowship with others, companionship is an antidote to the alienation and loneliness the man feels when he separates from his family to establish a new life. Because he is not yet literate in the local language and has no friends or relatives in the place to which he immigrates, the man relies on kind strangers to ease his transition. Although the generosity the woman at the transit station and the food seller extend to the man is modest, their efforts contribute to his well-being. Without them, he wouldn't know where to go or what to eat. The man also finds companionship in his pet, the tadpole-dog creature he initially perceives as a pest. The pet is a constant presence toward whom the man can show his affection. Ultimately, these examples of companionship help the man maintain mental and emotional well-being while he waits for his wife and daughter to arrive.
Oppression
Another of the novel's major themes is oppression—the state of being subject to cruel and unjust treatment or control. The theme arises in Part I when large shadowy tentacle- or spiked tail-like appendages loom over the man's neighborhood. While Tan never makes it explicit who or what the tentacle-tails belong to, they represent the forces of oppression that have overtaken the man's homeland and driven him to seek a better life abroad. In the new world, the man encounters several other immigrants who explain their own experiences of fleeing oppression. There is a woman who escaped slavery as a girl, a food seller whose community was terrorized by giants vacuuming up the population, and an elderly former soldier whose people were decimated in a genocide. Although their reasons for migrating are different, each of these individuals (including the man) has escaped their oppressive circumstances and established safer lives in the new land.
Aspiration
Aspiration is perhaps the most important theme in The Arrival. The book begins with the man leaving his homeland because he hopes to achieve a safer and more prosperous life for his family. Although the new world is unfamiliar and alienating, it is simultaneously a place of hope and opportunity. Despite their diverse cultural backgrounds, the man and other immigrants forge connections based on their shared goal of living somewhere better than the place they were born. By the end of the book, the man's daughter has assimilated to the new culture well enough that she can help a new arrival who cannot read a map. In this way, the man's family pays forward the acceptance that helped them establish their new lives.
