Forfeit a Life
The author of the boat uses three other fictional stories to create more depth and to allow the reader to understand the author’s intention. The three references in the story are to Eustacia Vye, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield. All three have characters that have surrendered their life to the water in some form and have done so because of a strong emotion. In the boat these characters represent the father and what he in the end also sacrificed. The father gave his life to the sea long before he died and in the end the sea stripped him of everything that made him, “the fish had eaten his testicles and the gulls had pecked out his eyes” (MacLeod, p.260). This relates to the fact that the stories mentioned have surrendered to the by the sea, whether it is in love, revenge, shame, or in the fathers case lost dreams.
When an author chooses to make the reader or viewer aware of the fact that they are reading or watching a story and not something real it is called metafiction. This can appear in many different ways like: a character reading/writing a book, the author/narrator asking the reader questions, or discussing the plot or theme of the story in the story. One well known example is in Hamlet where there is a play in the storyline and it resembles the actual play taking place. Another that first came to my mind is the older Disney movies that begin with the fairytale book opening like “Beauty and the Beast” or even “Shrek”.
Authors may include metafiction in their work for many reasons and it can have varied affects depending where and when it is used. If the author wants to reach the reader in a way that provokes a person to think outside of the box they might attempt to communicate with the reader in a story. Including works of fiction within fiction I see as a way to allow the reader to see themselves in the story, because they are reading about a character that is doing the same thing they are, reading. Although metafiction reminds a reader that they are viewing or reading something not real I think it generally allows a reader to connect on a different level.