A Prayer For Owen Meany

The dreams, visions, and hallucinations that Owen describes may seem strange at the first stages of the novel, but have a significant physical evidence that supports John’s suspicion that Owen is an instrument of God. Since John chooses not to take seriously any of the hints Owen presents thorough the plot, he makes a choice to reestablish the faith the way Owen wanted, while he was still alive. “I know when I’m going to die – and now a dream has shown me how I’m going to die” John wishes he knew this before his death, but the fact that he finds this out after Owen’s death gives him more reasoning to believe that fate has stopped him from knowing this and preventing the inevitable. The removal of Owen’s limbs at the time of his death references back to his obsession of amputation with objects. Owen may appear bizarre and irrational to the school, and even John himself, at the moment of the incident, but the ironic revelation of what he was referring to as “The Dream” in Owen’s diary after he dies cause John’s mind to accept the idea that “The Dream” was God’s own intervention.

Owen’s purpose in life undoubtedly allows John see his faith in a completely new way. Owen symbolically removes the statue of Mary Magdalene from the school, amputating its arms and head; when Merrill questions Owen’s reasoning behind his actions, he says that he saw “The Dream” again. The symbolism in the passage provides specific physical evidence of Owen’s power to see his own fate with great detail. Even though John does not realize this in the early stages of his life, probably since he is pre-teen at the time, the encounter of the clawless armadillo sets an unexplained foreshadowing element that has an massive effect of supporting the theme of Owen’s heavenly nature. Owen’s heroic action of saving the children perfectly match the reason for his small size and high voice – the children had to trust him, and not be afraid. The author uses foreshadowing elements that do not explain the reasoning behind it, yet the change of John’s faith at the end gives rational connection of the miracle he witnesses then and all of the elements that represent a significant meaning thorough the course of the book. John, surprisingly, completely trusts Owen’s intentions without any hesitation, especially after he finds out that Owen has been lying about the vision of death that he saw at the play.

The scene of Owen’s death is embedded with immense details that reference to all of Owen’s unexplained actions earlier in the novel.