Owen Meany
The existence of fate is an ongoing controversy. John Irving, when writing APrayer for Owen Meany, gives the audience many encounters with fate to try tosway their opinions. However, he does not force it on the audience, merelyeducates them in the miracles that could happen and lets them decide forthemselves. Owen not only believed his life was fated, but that he is aninstrument of God who is there to carry out God's will. His own experiences wereobviously believed by him to be fated and the tragedy of John's mother wassupposed to occur. He was an indirect, but integral part of the fates of othersas well, including John, Hester and Dan.Despite Owen's belief that life is fated, he believes he must actively pursuethat future. Everything he or anyone else does has a reason for happening andthat God intends it. Owen's visions of his future were seen as not onlyassurance, but also guidelines to living his life. Throughout his life, peoplewho were only partially religious, or at least felt they had to be, surroundedhim. This negativity toward God never dampened Owen's faith and it becamestronger all the time. His belief in fate led him to Phoenix, initially thoughtto be Vietnam, where his dream became a
He was an aid in God's plan for them and willremain in their minds and hearts forever. (Irving, 1989,1) Religion is a huge topic in everyone's life and to credit one person withyour beliefs is a great accomplishment on their part. Her fate was still carried out which implies that she indeed had afate waiting for her. John says in the verybeginning of the novel "I am a Christian because of Owen Meany". He believes this because of Tabby's fate, but also because heis fated to save a group of children. Owen served his purpose to John,to enforce the faith in him. This reinforces the fact that John Irving is trying to sellthe idea of fate. Dan's life may have been affected the least of the three byOwen, but still needs to be examined. Her character was not really developedafter his death, but she did become a rock star. " (Irving, 1989, 87) This quote reveals Owen'sreligious beliefs and the strength they hold on his life. Owen's fate was so strongly believed in his own mind that, he turned his lifeupside down to bring that dream into reality; he also affected the lives ofothers when he fought for this fate. Irving uses Owen's experiences to introducethe idea of fate and cause questions in the minds of believers and non-believersalike.
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Acceptance Essays
