Whitty 1

Kayla Whitty

Mr. Pace

Literature and Composition

27 March 2023

Metafiction

Metafiction is a unique way of telling a story where it is made clear that the piece is

fiction by either having the author interject themselves into the book or by stating that it is a

piece of writing. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut shows examples of multiple different

genres, but one that is overwhelmingly used through the entirety of the book is metafiction, with

Vonnegut talking about characters as such and by telling stories of his own life, including his

experiences in war, which happens to be another genre that appeared in his book. Vonnegut also

details events that are to happen later in the book, specifying where and when they will happen,

making it clear that the writing is fiction. Both Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and “The

Harvest”, a short story that appears in At The Gates of The Animal Kingdom: Stories by Amy

Hempel, show themes of metafiction through their statements of events in the future and the

reflections of their own actions that are not a part of the story, a vital part in conveying the

hidden messages behind certain aspects of the story.

Both Vonnegut and Hempel express that events that they are talking about will not occur

until further on in the story, making it clear that both works are using metafiction to guide their

readers. When talking about the creation of his next book, and the events in the current one

Vonnegut adds “This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt. It

begins like this: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this: Poo-tee-weet?”

(Vonnegut, 22). Vonnegut tells of the line starting the next chapter and the line that ends the
 Whitty 2

book, showing how even if told how the story started and ended, the order of events throughout

the book could not be predicted beforehand. Vonnegut purposefully makes the reader aware that

the book is a work of fiction in a way that still leaves room for questions. This idea of telling the

reader things before they actually happen in the story was also used by Hempel, who

demonstrated it in a section of their short story when the narrator was telling a story of how they

had lost their leg in an accident, saying “The Lawyer was the one who used the word. But I

won’t get around to that until a couple of paragraphs” (Hempel 9). Foreshadowing is used to tell

the reader that something is going to be discussed later on. In the genre of metafiction, it is used

to create suspense in stories, making the reader think about when specific events will arise, also

prompting a more in depth look for meaning as it was mentioned on more than one occasion.

Both use the notion of talking about future events in their writing by showing where certain

aspects of the story will appear, either in a specific paragraph or page. This builds on the idea

that both authors used metafiction to guide their work through an interwoven story that makes it

clear that the author knows what will happen at each point. Although they build on each other,

they do so in different ways. Vonnegut blatantly says what the reader should look out for, having

an exact place to look, while Hempel takes an approach that still leaves some mystery, not

disclosing the exact event or when it will happen, but foreshadowing it nonetheless. The use of

foreshadowing in both Slaughterhouse-Five and “The Harvest” proves how they can both be

considered as works of metafiction through the apparent disclosure of being a fictional story.

Both authors write about their experiences writing the book that it is appearing in, a way

of making the reader step back from the story and acknowledge that it is a piece of fiction,

calculated by each author. Although Vonnegut includes many genres in Slaughterhouse-Five,

metafiction is one that can be found frequently throughout the book, with Vonnegut finding new
 Whitty 3

ways to retell the reader that the book is a piece of fiction. Towards the end of the book, he says

“There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because

most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One

of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. But old

Derby was a character now” (Vonnegut, 164). Vonnegut is blatantly talking about the characters,

or lack thereof in the story. Vonnegut describes his own experience with war, and how many of

the people in his book are just a small piece of a much larger force, not identifying them as

characters because of their role of conformity. Vonnegut then also describes how Derby, another

character in the book, is indeed a character because of his high energy and different outlook on

life, separating him from a mass of people who think the same. This comparison between

characters makes it clear to the reader that the stories they are reading are about fictional

characters and events, an example of metafiction. Similar to the idea of talking about characters,

Hempel tells of her own experiences with writings, just as Vonnegut had done with his

experiences of war, and interjecting stories of her own life into the layout of the story. Hempel

explains to the reader that: “I leave a lot out when I tell the truth. The same when I write a story.

I’m going to start now to tell you what I left out of ‘The Harvest’, and maybe begin to wonder

why I had to leave it out” (Hempel, 13). By calling the writing a “story” and alluding to the

writing process, it is made clear that the author wants the reader to know that the work is a piece

of fiction. That obviousness is crucial to the way that the author wants the story portrayed,

showing them what pieces of information were left out of the original in order to create a sense

of wonder and prompting the reader to make new connections. Both Vonnegut and Hempel use

methods of metafiction to invoke a new train of thought for the reader, making them think

outside of the traditional storyline and wonder why a certain piece of information is relevant in
 Whitty 4

the purpose of the writing. Both sources of metafiction build on each other and how metafiction

is used to portray new ideas and make certain aspects of the story blatantly obvious. Both writers

show varied examples of metafiction throughout the entirety of their writings, by suggesting the

events of the future and stating the fictional aspects of the story.

Kurt Vonnegut and Amy Hempel both used metafiction in their writings in order to

convey a deeper message through the piece of fiction. The obviousness that is used to show that

aspects of the stories are made up makes readers think about why it was included and the

purpose of personal information being included. Metafiction is a genre of storytelling that is used

by writers to connect aspects of their lives to their work, while also showing the significance of

the fictional aspects of stories, and why they must be written in that way.
 Whitty 5

Work Cited

Hempel, Amy. “The Harvest.” At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories, HarperPerennial,

New York, 1995.

Vonnegut, Kurt. “Slaughterhouse-Five”. Dell Publishing, December 1991.