a prayer for owen meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany, written by John Irving in 1989, is a novel that delves into many sensitive areas of American culture. Among the most prevalent of these are religion, anti-war, and anti-Americanism. This novel raises many questions about America and it’s values and, in most cases, shows America as the enemy of its own people.

The story takes place in a small New Hampshire town before and during the Vietnam War. Johnny Wheelwright, a Canadian immigrant, in retrospect, narrates the novel. Johnny befriends a boy named Owen Meany who among many other oddities is a tiny boy with a shrill voice. Owen is responsible, by means of a fluke foul ball, for the death of Johnny’s mother. Owens parents, who are not very stable or supporting, give Owen the impression that he was a miraculous virgin birth and thus the tool of God. When the boys’ school decided to perform A Christmas Carol for the school play, Owen is cast (more appropriately, casts himself) as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. While acting his part Owen faints on stage. Upon waking, Owen claims to have seen his name and date of his death on the prop tombstone. The two boys then go on to attend a private prep school together. It is here that Owen insists that

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While struggling through these trials and tribulations, it is Owens self-sureness that helps set an example for Johnny to live by. It was this coping of the disillusionment that has led Irving to his anti-Americanism and the creation of this wonderful novel. Owen was killed by the blast but everyone else was saved.

While many people will take many different things from this book and its symbolism, I was affected by it mainly form its anti-American message. As the two grow older they both attend college and Owen enrolls in the ROTC program.

This novel exemplifies, in my opinion, the anti-war and anti-American sentiment of this disillusioned group of men during and after the Vietnam War. Written in 1989, this novel seems to be Irving’s’ retrospect on America and its values during the Vietnam War. I feel that this novel was Irving’s attempt to come to terms with a horrible chapter in his life. He does so because he believes that God had called him to fight in Vietnam and die saving a group of Vietnamese school children. The mixed symbolism of religion and war seem to imply a lack of morality in American values. From very early on in the book, up until its conclusion, Owen personifies this stance on American values.

The entire novel is riddled with instances of fighting against the system and sticking it to the man. And it all took place on the day that Owen had already engraved into his own tombstone.

Approximate Word count = 890
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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