prayer for owen meany

In “A Prayer for Owen Meany”, John Irving reveals Owen by telling the story of his life in complete detail as the focus of the first person narrative, while the other character, Owen, will have the bulk of his life told as he interacts with John. Although, much of the story concentrates on some of the more static characters revealed through indirect presentation—characters who remain virtually the same once out of their teen years—it is necessary in order to shed light on the characters of Owen and John.
In an attempt to portray Owen as a figure of Christ, Irving gives subtle hints in aiming for readers to come to the conclusion that Owen is a symbolic character. When Owen becomes a part of the cast for the Christmas play, the part being that of the child of Christ, Irving finishers the chapter with Dan singing a part of the Christmas Carol. Irving wants the readers to be able to connect the dots and to see that Owen is following in the same footsteps on a spiritual level, more so than the average person. Once Owen plays the part of the child of Christ, it becomes clear that he is playing the role with an authority that is beyond human. Meany has to sacrifice his own life in order to save the lives of others and appears twice to John after his death, just as Christ rose from the dead.

It is clear that Irving wanted the readers to note the use of capital letters when Owen speaks to demonstrate his very eccentric way of speaking. From the beginning it is evident that there is an emphasis on Owens voice, the novel draws our attention to this from the start. As the reader we are exposed to his shouting and authority through the use of speech being capitalized. Through this, Irving wants the reader to experience his voice in the sa...

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...ade; one major decision being made by Owen, a decision that in essence is essentially the future of his life. Owen must decide his future path, whether to accept his destiny or reject it. Seeing as Owen believes that he has been put on a mission by God, to reject his destiny would be a direct rejection of his faith; a rejection of God. Owen decides to accept his destiny and embrace what he believes is his purpose on earth. This gives Owen a type of peace and trust in all aspects of life. As John states in the novel “Owen Meany could manifest a certain calmness that I had never quite liked" Irving wants to demonstrate that Owen is a man who knows exactly what his purpose in life is, what he has complete control over it and his destiny, this is something that frightens John, as he believes that Owen is on another plane of existence to himself and everyone around him,