Sociology Report: Exploring Multiculturalism Through Children's Books

This report delves into the portrayal of multiculturalism within children's literature, focusing on the analysis of three key picture books: 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan, 'My Place,' and 'Izzy Gizmo' by Pip Jones. The report explores how these books utilize various literary devices, such as visual storytelling through pencil sketches, maps, and vibrant illustrations, to depict the experiences of individuals navigating new cultural landscapes and the challenges and emotions associated with migration and cultural adaptation. The analysis examines the use of anthropomorphism, symbolism, and color palettes to convey themes of uncertainty, hope, and the importance of embracing cultural differences. Furthermore, the report highlights classroom activities and questions that can be used to facilitate discussions about multiculturalism, encouraging students to explore the emotions evoked by the stories and to consider the perspectives of characters from diverse backgrounds. The conclusion underscores the value of these books in promoting cross-cultural understanding and providing children with a framework for interpreting and appreciating literary texts.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2SOCIOLOGY
Introduction:
Multiculturalism is one of the most sought after aspect in the field of literature. It is
needless to say that multiculturalism has found its way not only in the field of literature but also
in the field of art and architecture. Many poets, novelists, writers, and artists of the ancient period
have tried their level best to depict the effects of multiculturalism in their works. A very good
example of studying multiculturalism is through the use of picture books (Amri, Tahir & Ahmad,
2017). The pencil drawings simulate sepia photographs have strengthened the sense that the
surrealist images are strongly rooted in reality. The layout or the background colors, particularly
in the novel, The Arrival talks about the successive despair and hope to hover over the life of the
protagonist as he comes from his native land to the foreign land. Some of the most important
story books that have been able to depict the aspect of multiculturalism are Shaun Tans, The
Arrival, Izzy Gizmo by Pip Jones and also the book called My Place. The discussion mainly
hinted at finding the depiction of the aspect of multi-culturalism via all these books.
Source 1: The Arrival by Shaun Tans

3SOCIOLOGY
The novel called The Arrival by Shaun Tans mainly shows how the people get
astonished after traveling from their native land to the new-found lands. In other orders, due to
events like war, famine, droughts and other such social or political regimes, many people are
forced to leave their motherland and travel to some new foreign locations in search of refuge.
However, this journey is not very easy or welcoming. Anthropomorphism is a good and well-
known literacy technique use to depict stories. It is a way of representing the perpetual battle of
man against forces of nature and of society. A good example can be Ruth Starke’s An Anzac
tale, which is a nice work in the graphic novel genre. The Arrival is also set in the more or
less similar context where the author Shan Tan has depicted different chapters of transition in the
life of the protagonist through images and sketches (Schnell, 2017). The pictures and layout
along with shades of color tell the story.
This phenomenon has been shown by the astonished faces of the characters after they are
meeting with new cultures, places, customs and new creatures of the foreign land. The author
has made beautiful use of the different literary devices throughout the book. Most of the images
are pencil sketches, drawn with pencil and paper. This element of the book shows that the
characters in the mindset of black and white or a feeling of uncertainty and obscenity after
coming to a foreign land (Pennell, Wollak & Koppenhaver, 2018). The different illustrations of
the very first image are done in a very shadowy manner which shows the pencil sketched figures
of a man and a woman. They are the husband and wide. The wife of the protagonist is helping to
pack his suitcase. This image is thus named as the suitcase (draw with pencil on paper). The
color and layout of the book is a mixture of dark and light platforms. It depicts the unsure and
uncertain life of the protagonist in a new land. It is similar to the clouds that darken the life of

4SOCIOLOGY
protagonist with despair and once gains move away and fill his life with bright sunshine. Thus
the layout of the book is dark and gloomy in some places whereas colorful in the other.
Inspection is also a good sketch done with the black and white layout. It is a pencil sketch of
different faces, fugues undergoing checking of different organs. The famous sketch of four
seasons, which is a sketch of pencil on paper, depicts different shades of color. The layout of this
image is neither totally dark nor fully bright. The first few pictures are set against a dark color
background showing difficulties (Dheer & Lenartowicz, 2018). However, with the gradual
increase in seasons, it is seen that the dark color slowly changes to light shade. The last few
pictures in this image are set against a bluish white tinge. The author has very carefully selected
this color and this layout to predict the gradual emergence of victory after despair.
Classroom activity questions:
1. How the protagonists in the picture showing multiculturalism by their dressing style?
2. How can you assume that the activities by the various characters are showing multi-cultural
activities?
3. What emotions do the pictures from this book predict?
4. Can a person live peacefully and happily after coming to a totally new land?
Source 2: My Place
Childlike sketches, maps, and illustrations in the books like My Place help in depicting the
history or the contextual historical background of the transitions that took place in the lives of the
protagonist and other surrounding characters. A significant feature is a heavily framed text and

5SOCIOLOGY
the doubled page designed layout shows a significant, powerful continuity of the aspect of
multiculturalism in the story.
The opening picture where the protagonist sees a weird looking rat-like creature shows
the level of astonishment that he came across by seeing the creature. The creature depicts the
weirdest and new cultural aspects that one gets to see after coming to a new place. It shows that
culture changes along with the change in geographical locations. This picture is set against the
dark background drawn in normal back and white sketches. Thought the background is dark, the
color of the creature is white and it shows that proper interaction with people from other cultures
can bring about surety and certainty. Old-fashioned vehicles, random plants, and animals shop
front signs and posters, apartment interiors, photos of people working, eating, talking and
playing all are different literacy devices and illustrations used by the author in the story in order
to depict the meaning. Going through these literacy devices, readers are able to identify the
hidden meaning or symbolic meaning hidden underneath.
This book has a wide range of pictures with different faces showing different kinds of
expressions. Thus it proves that people must be able to get acquainted with different kinds of
cultures and also embrace the cultural difference (Jackson, 2017). This will enable them to enrich
their knowledge. The picture of the dragon shows that there can be looming despair, death,
danger even in the new countries or the new lands just as they were present in the native lands of
the protagonist. This is a dark sketch done with pencil on paper. The layout over the background
of the picture is dark. This is also represented by the sketch of the giants. The layout is dark with
a tinge of yellow or brightness. This shows that at the end of fear there is a fine line of brightness
and victory.

6SOCIOLOGY
These questions can be generated after studying this book. It is the duty of the teachers to
make sure that the students are being able to focus on the good as well as the harsh experiences
that one encounters after having traveled from a new to an old land (Shan & Walter, 2015). They
have to make sure that students are being able to see each picture and focus on the range of
emotions that are being evoked by those (Elton et al., 2017).
The classroom activity questions:
1. How a particular creature can be astonishing for the people belonging to different culture?
2. What difference in the expression of the people can be seen among people from different
culture?
Source 3: Izzy Gizmo by Pip Jones
The other book that has been used for teaching multiculturalism to the students is Izzy
Gizmo by Pip Jones. In this book, the author has used a very colorful layout (Pearson, 2015).
The background of the book is white but the pictures are brightly colored. It shows the attempts
of a very young girl, full of life trying to keep the gap between her and their grandparents’

7SOCIOLOGY
generation and culture (So, 2016). The very first image shows the sketch of a little girl dressed
in bright colures. The contrasting feature is that the author did not use a simple pencil and sketch
on the paper. These images are drawn with bright colors. This imparts a feeling of joy, victory
and full of energy. The author has used very less or hardly any words. The layout shows a quick
sequence of images with bold bright colors and strokes. This is different than the black and
white pencil sketch. However, it follows the Anzac Tale tradition. The constant presence of
failed attempts shows the presence of constant threats that happens when a person is trying to
learn new things and adopt the new cultural aspects. However, at the end of this book, the picture
of Izzy shows that she is happy and she gives herself a wing she is as free and happy as a bird.
(Dheer & Lenartowicz, 2018).
The classroom activity questions that can appear are:
1. How is Izzy trying to meet the cultural difference?
2. How can someone meet up with the cultural difference and get to a happy ending?
The teachers will have to use the pictures and assign specific roles to the students. Primary
level students will be enjoying role-playing and thus take up the chapter of multiculturalism very
easily (Pearson, 2015).
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that the three books have been very useful in teaching about
multiculturalism to the primary level students. My place is a story almost perfect in style and
construction and it is a clever way for children to explore Australian history. Through my place,
children learn to interpret, appreciate and create literary texts such as narrative, poetry, prose
multimodal texts. The arrival by Shaun Tan shows the different encounters a person will

8SOCIOLOGY
encounter while traveling to a new land. The story of Izzy Gizmo by Pip Jones shows repeated
attempts to adapt and learn.

9SOCIOLOGY
References
Amri, M., Tahir, S. Z. A. B., & Ahmad, S. (2017). The Implementation of Islamic Teaching in
Multiculturalism Society: A Case Study at Pesantren Schools in Indonesia. Asian Social
Science, 13(6), 125.
Dheer, R. J., & Lenartowicz, T. (2018). Multiculturalism and entrepreneurial intentions:
Understanding the mediating role of cognitions. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice, 42(3), 426-466.
Elton‐Chalcraft, S., Lander, V., Revell, L., Warner, D., & Whitworth, L. (2017). To promote, or
not to promote fundamental British values? Teachers’ standards, diversity and teacher
education. British Educational Research Journal, 43(1), 29-48.
Jackson, L. (2017). Learning about diversity in Hong Kong: Multiculturalism in liberal studies
textbooks. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 26(1-2), 21-29.
Pearson, M. (2015). Modeling Universal Design for Learning Techniques to Support
Multicultural Education for Pre-Service Secondary Educators. Multicultural
Education, 22, 27-34.
Pennell, A. E., Wollak, B., & Koppenhaver, D. A. (2018). Respectful representations of
disability in picture books. The Reading Teacher, 71(4), 411-419.
Schnell, S. M. (2017). Exploring place attachment and the immigrant experience in comics and
graphic novels: Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. In Explorations in Place Attachment (pp. 97-
113). Routledge.

10SOCIOLOGY
Shan, H., & Walter, P. (2015). Growing everyday multiculturalism: Practice-based learning of
Chinese immigrants through community gardens in Canada. Adult education
quarterly, 65(1), 19-34.
So, J. K. (2016). Opening up spaces for early Critical Literacy: Korean kindergarteners exploring
diversity through multicultural picture books. Australian Journal of Language and
Literacy, The, 39(2), 176.
Tyson, K. (2017). Double Take! A New Look at Opposites. The School Librarian, 65(4), 220-
220.