We used to let our imagination be free to think and to judge everything when we were a little kid. However, as days gone, we hardly notice our ability to think outside of the box being stolen because of the incredible improvement of the technology around us such as television or computer. Fortunately, thank to the great writer Shaun Tan who has brought our imagination back by his beautiful book “Tales From Outer Suburbia”. This wonderful masterpiece contains many illogical stories but “They felt no need to question the logic of it, and simply accepted its presence gratefully”. The magic realism has been used skillful through out the book, especially in these two story which are “no other country” and “Eric”, the use of magic realism has reached a whole new level no one has discovered before by its beautifully illogical imagination. In other to give the clear look about this side, this essay will illustrate the use of magic realism in Shaun Tan’s No Other Country and Eric. “No Other Country” and “Eric” has taken us to “somewhere close and familiar but also on the edge of consciousness”(Shaun Tan, 2000) by showing several fanciful sceneries that are the perfect mixture between fantasia and reality. In other way of saying that is the magic realism that covers the story. Differ from pure magical idea, the magic in magical realism happen in the real life as a solution or a changing way of thinking and viewing. It helps the writer to establish the story to the way he wants without thinking about the logic of story flow. By using that, the author can transfer a message or just simply make the story more exciting and fantasy. “Eric” is a simple but emotional and profound tale about a foreign exchange student who came to live with a local family. Many problems have come because of the dissimilar view from both sides. It would be sounded like a normal story if Shaun Tan did not depict Eric as an unreal character. It is the first magic that the author brings to us. A kid dream character comes to the book with a leaf-sized black student who sleeps in a cup, stand on a book and travel on a flying leaf. Another thing of Eric is that he has a big head but no mouth. Because of that, he can neither express what he feels nor say anything. This may be the normal thing for him but annoying to the host family. They found him so emotionless that they worried if he was happy or not “There was much speculation over dinner later that evening. Did Eric seem upset? Did he enjoy his stay? ” By using the magical realism character’s appearance, Shaun Tan gives the exchange students a message that they have to communicate with the other in other to understand each other. Curiosity lays in anyone included Eric. However, due to his abnormal appearance, he always shows his interest on tiny things that no one cares about such as button or a serial number on an electronic cable. Although his way of seeing things seems magical realism, it is similar to the way of a kid sees things around him. Children always have oodles of question of why, how, what and sometime adults cannot have all the answer and just say “That’s just how it is.” That kind of matters is so common in these current days and can be boring if we mention it directly. So Shaun Tan has established the reality by a magical way. At the end is the blossoming of small things that represents for all the knowledge he gained on his journal and the beginning of a new journal of Eric. Once again, the magical realism has skillfully covered the whole story in order to not only make the story fantasy but also give messages to readers. It is not magnified to say that Shaun Tan has reached the top of his talent through this book, unlike “Eric” which illustrate the beauty of magic realism on the drawing, “No Other Country” now transmits the magic into the words which made the story to become a series of fanciful sceneries. The story starts with the harsh reality of the poor family “After
