There’s another fun Vonnegut reference for you.
Within both Supernatural and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” we see the power of a writer to create a set of characters, a plot, and, in essence, what we see as reality, at least in the context of the story. This is normal, but somehow within both these stories it seems revolutionary. We’re comfortable with the idea of fiction being fictional, but the idea that that these fictional worlds are somehow not even happening within their own versions of “reality” is a step too far. We’re not comfortable with the reminder that writers create every facet of their characters. Within Supernatural this is even addressed as Dean tells Chuck, “you didn’t create us,” but why not? What is actually to say that Dean’s life and experiences have not been created by Chuck just as Bierce creates the life and memories of Peyton Farquhar in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”? Dean is uncomfortable with the idea that his life is being designed, but perhaps the thing that really disturbs him is the idea that his thoughts, actions, and memories are not exclusively his own or are even some how fictional? Why can’t Dean simply be a character that Chuck has designed? (I’m going to let something slip here and it’s this- I’m more than a one time viewer of Supernatural. I’ve seen the show and I know there’s a popular theory that Chuck is not just a prophet, but actually God himself). If Dean is actually just as fictional as Peyton Farquhar, even within the Supernatural universe, then there’s more at play than Dean being uncomfortable with someone else knowing what’s to come; he’s rejecting the idea that at base he is himself somehow fictional, that his life and memories are false.
Perhaps we can relate to this ourselves. While we’re not fictional a characters (though I do remember having some really bad dreams as a kid in which I was simply a doll being controlled by a giant), some parts of our conception of ourselves are fictional. Most notably, we have our own false memories. When we consider our past experiences, we are very much affected by the retellings of others. Even those memories which seem to us to be most vivid are often somewhat variable. I’m not going to go into this too much because it’s complicated, but there’s an explanation of this phenomenon here.
On some level, this is also arises within Cat’s Cradle as Newt Hoenikker tries to retell his memories of the day the bomb was dropped. he notes that he was very young at the time and, furthermore, that even his most vivid memories have been affected by those around him. He even states that the day has been redescribed to him as he says, “My sister Angela has told me many times that I really hurt my father that day when I wouldn’t admire the Cat’s Cradle” (Vonnegut 13). Perhaps Newt’s memories are just as false or affected as those Dean and those of all of us are. Further, as Newt describes his recollections, he leaves them to again be reinterpreted and, thus, at least partially transformed by an author.
Perception is such an important thing in the context of any story, whether it's fiction or not. Not just in the way that we create false memories, but in the way we view each other and ourselves. We believe stories about other people based on what we know of their lives and what we know about the storyteller's reliability. For example, we wouldn't usually believe a story told by a pathological liar, or a story that paints one of our dear friends in a bad light. It's the same way for stories like An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge or Cat's Cradle, for shows like Supernatural. For Cat's Cradle, Jonah is not a reliable narrator. As readers, we perceive that he might not be trusted through the way he doesn't seem to care whether something is true or not. He states that Bokononism is founded on lies, but that doesn't matter to him. As a reader, that perception shapes how we view the book. Is the action in the book actually happening in that fictional world, or is it made up by Jonah? How does his fictional perception differ from that of other fictional characters in the novel? Is he like a normal person, creating false memories and writing them down?
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