Slaughterhouse-Five

by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five: Frame Story 1 key example

Frame Story
Explanation and Analysis:

Slaughterhouse-Five is set within a frame story: the first chapter is told from the perspective of the narrator, a stand-in for Vonnegut, who is writing a book on Dresden and World War II. The second chapter begins that book, and the rest of Slaughterhouse-Five is devoted to telling that story, with the first sentence and the last sentence exactly what the narrator from Chapter 1 promised they would be. This frame story positions Vonnegut as the narrator and blurs the line between fiction and autobiographical fiction, between reality and the world of the story.