A Prayer for Owen Meany Blog #4

            Throughout John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Owen Meany’s character develops significantly. The Owen Meany that we knew towards the beginning of the novel showed hints here and there that he might be a Christ figure or, as we soon find, a servant of God. All along it is known that Owen has a unique connection with God but it is not until the end, when Owen uses his voice to save the Vietnamese boys from Dick Jarvits’ grenade, that both Owen and the readers find out exactly why Owen is a servant of God. To Owen, the act of saving the Vietnamese boys is a sense of closure. He finally realizes his purpose in life. To the readers, however, Owen delivers a much deeper message. Owen is the voice of Irving’s message that while God is the creator of all things good in this world, he also brings death upon people; a death that no one can escape, not even Owen Meany, God’s own servant.

            Owen is connected to many deaths in Irving’s novel. Johnny Wheelwright tells us in the very first sentence of the novel “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-he was the instrument of my mother's death,” (1). Owen, who had never hit a baseball in a game in his life, just so happened to hit the ball hard enough to kill his best friend’s mother. Owen later describes the incident as an act of God which, given Irving’s theme, makes perfect sense. Owen was there to remind everybody, including the readers that death can strike at any time, even in the most unexpected form, and will almost always be an act of God.

            Owen Meany’s own death was not only an act of God, but also an extension on the nature of Owen as a Christ figure. Early in the novel, Owen is portrayed as a martyr as he accepts being passed around above the heads of his peers like a beach ball every time they have class and says nothing about it. In a similar, more significant way, Owen becomes a true martyr when he is killed by the hand grenade as he saves the Vietnamese boys. As he was dying, Owen cried out “ '. . . WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE,'” indicating that he was a servant of God until the day that he died, and that he, too, must leave the earth in the form of death (615). He also states that while he may be dead to the people of the earth, in the eyes of God, Owen Meany will never die.

            Owen is the example that death will come to everyone. However, he is also an example of how individuals can escape death in the eyes of God by living their lives in service to Him. In the beginning of the novel, Owen struggled with what denomination he would belong to, but soon found that no matter what denomination of the church he was a part of, God’s will was in him and he, as a servant of God, was to carry it out without fail before his inevitable death. In carrying out God’s will, Owen killed his best friend’s mother, but he also saved many young Vietnamese lives. Perhaps Johnny’s mother was killed because she had done God’s will on earth by raising Johnny, but the young Vietnamese boys were saved because they had not yet made their glorious contribution to the world.

            Foster’s ideas were the main driving force behind my close reading, especially when it came to discovering Owen to be a Christ figure. In correspondence to Foster’s focus on Christ figures, I also used his insight on biblical references to enhance my vision of Owen as a Christ figure. For example, I had begun to think that Owen was a Christ figure when I noticed that his reaction to his parents being at the A Christmas Carol could have been a biblical reference to the story of Young Jesus in the Temple.  I also used Perrine’s technique of testing my theories. My theory that Owen was a Christ figure worked out, while the importance of women in the story, along with a few other theories, did not seem to carry through the text. Using the close reading techniques of both Foster and Perrine allowed me to better understand the text.

            I would recommend this novel because it is a beautiful and quite interesting account of a friendship that has to be bound by some greater force if it can last through one friend killing the other’s mother. All throughout the novel, Irving does a fantastic job of planting creating references to a higher power being behind everything without giving too much away. As you read, you are constantly asking “why?” Why is his voice like that? Why are they still friends? Why is he so small? Why does Owen, as a teenager, finally decide that he can play basketball? Why do Johnny and Owen work with Vietnamese orphans? The “why” questioning begins to build up and the questions become deeper as we have more  knowledge behind us and suddenly, it all very nicely falls into place and God is left as the only, yet, very simple explanation for it all. As a reader, witnessing Owen finally figure out what his life has been all about makes you wonder, “What is my purpose in life?”. 

A Prayer for Owen Meany Blog #3

            As I read the second half of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, I began to see the importance of Owen’s voice. It is clear from the very beginning that Owen has a strange voice because not only does Johnny Wheelwright tell us that he has a strange voice, but we can also see that his voice is distinct through Irving’s use of capital letters each time Owen speaks. At first, Owen’s voice seems to be an opportunity for the other kids to make fun of him. As he grows up, however, his voice becomes more and more meaningful.  

            As Johnny’s grandmother loses her memory the fact that “Even when her memory was shot, Grandmother remembered Owen's voice” shows that Owen’s voice is not just weird (19). It is also memorable. Knowing that his voice is memorable and can make an impact paves the way for ample opportunity to use his voice to his advantage. As a child in the Christmas plays, Owen finds that he performs best when he does not have a speaking role. At this point, Owen has not faced the issue of his voice head on, but he has solved part of the problem by expressing his talents through acting, rather than through his voice. In high school, Owen once again finds a way to have his voice heard without actually speaking. Owen begins to publish articles in The Grave, the school paper and “among the editors of The Grave, in which Owen published the first essay he was assigned in English class, Owen was known as ‘The Voice.’” (289). Owen has found a way to share his thoughts and ideas without actually using his voice. While writing for the newspaper is a step in the right direction, it is not until his time working with the Vietnamese orphans that Owen Meany finally realizes and utilizes the full potential of his voice. When Dick Jarvits threw open the door to the room that Owen was in with the Vietnamese boys, Owen was able to use his voice to comfort them. Johnny recalls that “it was not only because he spoke their language; it was his voice that compelled the children to listen to him-it was a voice like their voices. That was why they trusted him, why they listened. " (612).

            It took Owen most of his life, but he finally realized why he had the underdeveloped voice that he did. It was God’s will. It is all in the moment that Owen saves the Vietnamese children from the grenade that Owen discovers God’s purpose for him in life. It’s wonderful how a boy that was made fun of all his life for being strangely underdeveloped with a small body and a small voice saved a group of other young boys with the help of the same features that he was always made fun of for. 

A Prayer for Owen Meany Blog #2

            As I continue to read A Prayer for Owen Meany, it is becoming clearer that Owen Meany is, in fact, a Christ Figure. Owen is now the star of both of the annual Christmas plays that are put on by his community. He is Jesus in the Nativity and The Ghost of the Future in A Christmas Carol. His role as Jesus in the Nativity is quite a literal reference to a Christ figure, but John Irving’s novel is full of biblical references that are significant, but not quite as obvious.

            Especially now that the evidence is clearer in this second section of the novel, it is clear that Owen has been a Christ figure from the beginning. For example, like Jesus, Owen, figuratively is a martyr. He reveals this characteristic when his classmates raised him up over their heads and pass him around the classroom. Johnny recalls that Owen “never complained about us” even in those times of cruelty and humiliation (6).

            Owen also embodies Christ at his performance in the Nativity when he sees that his parents have joined him and yells, mid-pageant, “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING HERE?... YOU SHOULDN’T BE HERE!” at his parents (220). This reminded me of Luke’s story of young Jesus in the Temple when he stays behind on his family’s pilgrimage and when his parents come back to look for him, he is surprised and almost exasperated to find that his parents have been worried about his whereabouts because he has been in “my Father’s house” with the religious leaders the entire time. While Jesus was not mad at his parents for coming back for him, to me, both stories had the same message: “Mom, Dad, would you please just leave me alone while I do God’s work? I know what I’m doing”. Both Jesus and Owen are carrying out the work of God, one by preaching in the temple and one by telling Jesus’ story through the Nativity, and both boys want to be uninterrupted by their parents as they work.

            Owen also embodies Christ in the Christmas Carol pageant when instead of seeing Scrooge’s name on the tomb stone, “"The gravestone said, 'Paul O. Meany, Junior” and a date that he has refused to disclose (254). It is too early to tell whether or not his vision of the date of his death comes true. However, Owen is a Christ figure nonetheless because Christ, too, knew he would be killed at a young age. Christ did not know the exact date of his foretold death, but he knew it would happen, just as Owen swears his death will.

            As the novel unfolds, it appears more and more that Owen believes himself to be a servant of God. From the deep faith that he has always had to the prophecies that he shares with Johnny, Owen is no ordinary being. What God’s purpose for Owen is, I am not sure yet, but I am sure it will be revealed as I keep reading.   

A Prayer for Owen Meany Blog #1

        

            John Irving's book, A Prayer for Owen Meany, is narrated in the first person by Johnny Wheelwright, a current resident of Canada, as he reflects on his childhood in Gravesend, New Hampshire, a childhood full of friendship, loss, and religious discovery. Johnny's best friend Owen Meany, an abnormally small boy with eerie porcelain skin and a voice so quiet that "to be heard at all, Owen had to shout through his nose" is the son of the poor owner of a granite quarry (3). Johnny, on the other hand, is the grandson of the matriarch of Gravesend and has family ties to John Adams and the founder of Gravesend. The families of the two boys could not be more different. What makes their friendship even more strange is the fact that Owen Meany accidentally killed Johnny's mother and yet, the boys are still best friends.

            While the fact that Johnny is best friends with the boy that killed his mother is puzzling to me, I have decided to focus more on the role and portrayal of women in A Prayer for Owen Meany. For example, Johnny's grandmother is the matriarch of Gravesend. Everybody looks to her to see reacts to events in the town and to see what she is doing on any given day. Johnny's mother is also a very important figure in the novel and someone that each character seems to be effected by, especially Owen. Owen is impressed by John's mother because she "HAS THE BEST BREASTS OF ALL THE MOTHERS"  but she has an effect on Owen that goes deeper than her beauty (39). This is evident when, after Tabby Wheelwright's death, Owen keeps her dummy that reminds him so much of her and "apparently it was good for him- for there she was, standing over him" at the head of his bed" (183). Mrs. Wheelwright had a positive effect on Owen's life and somehow managed to do so even after her murder. Even Owen's mother, though she is not a significant character, has significant role in Irving's portrayal of women. The fact that "not only did Mrs. Meany not go outdoors; she refused to look outdoors" and "Mrs. Meany never spoke to me, or took any notice of me at all" shows how strangely disconnected Mrs. Meany is from the world. While her refusal to leave the house gives the impression of a lack of power of Mrs. Meany's part, I wonder if it is the opposite. I wonder if there is a reason that she doesn't talk or leave the house that will be revealed as the story unfolds.

            Each of these women are significant in the lives of Owen and Johnny for their own reasons. Especially in the case of Johnny's mother and grandmother, the women are significant in areas that interestingly enough, men are absent. I believe that there is a reason Irving has chosen to have the women in his novel play such interesting yet significant roles in areas where men are insignificant, like Johnny's father. It is too soon to tell, however, what exactly this reason is. In his narration, Johnny touches on the religious aspect of Owen in that he seemed to have a knowledge of God's future that nobody else had. For example, Johnny states that "God would tell me who my father was, Owen Meany had assured me" (200). Johnny also states, "Owen must have known the dummy was important; he must have foreseen that even that unwanted dress would have a use-that it had a purpose." (142). It is too soon to tell what exactly that purpose is, or what the significance of the women is in this novel. Perhaps it could be biblically related. Could the presence of women in Owen's life be related to the presence of Mary in Jesus' life? We will find out in the chapters to come.