Shaun Tan published Tales from outer suburbia in the year 2008. The book is a collection of short stories and poems which deals with the experiences of immigrants. Shaun Tan moved to Australia at a young age, and shares his immigrant experiences using his illustrations and writings. Shaun Tan portrays the issues and occurrences of an immigrant using symbolism and allegory. The immigrant experience and self identity in another country is portrayed throughout the book. “Water Buffalo” represents the need for the young and inexperienced need to find direction and guidance through life until one day they become the wisdom givers. The allegory is about life, unexpected and unexpected experiences and life are presented using images and text in this story.
An allegory is a poem, story or a picture which portray a different or
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Shaun Tan has used several symbols which represent different things in real life. The main character of the story is the Water Buffalo. The Buffalo is depicted lazy, old, wise and down to earth and lives in the peaceful lot where no one bothered him. These are the characteristics of an old retired man . “He would come up to us, raise his left hoof slowly, and literally point us in the right direction”, this tells the reader that even though the water buffalo was a lazy he was always ready to help people and guide them in the right direction, literally and figuratively. The Buffalo did not tell the kids what to do or where exactly to go,