A Great teacher is always someone that you can learn a lot from. He is someone who understands you and wants to share with you his lifetime's worth of knowledge. He is kind and caring, maybe soft spoken but strong of mind and character. A Great teacher is always older, wiser and more experienced. He is a good influence on and patient with the apprentice. He is someone the apprentice can learn much from and in the end become a Great teacher himself. The Great Teacher is an archetype of a hero and is unmistakable throughout literature. The greatest classic example of this archetypical teacher-student partnership is Socrates teaches Plato who teaches Aristotle. All three are widely recognized as Great Teachers and great students. A well-known modern archetypical hero is Yoda from the movie trilogy, Star Wars. Yoda personifies the most noble 'Great Teacher' qualities.
             In the novel 'A Prayer for Owen Meany', John Irving's design was for Owen Meany's and Johnny Wheelright's association to be viewed as an uncharacteristic and anomalous Great Teacher – student relationship. This is a crucial part of the novel because it is the author's intent for the reader to become aware of Owen as the second Christ figure at the climax. The relationship is characterized this way because it challenges some of the teacher-student traits and patterns that are evident throughout literature.
             The Great teacher is seen in literature as a character in which the protagonist can "live-up" to and spend his lifetime learning from. He is also someone who guides the apprentice throughout the story. For example, in the novel 'The Alchemist', Santiago is guided along his journey by the alchemist who encourages and motivates him to achieve his personal legend. He teaches Santiago about the path to fulfilling his personal legend and about trials he must endure along the journey. ...