Thomas C. Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, begins his book with the very basics, even exemplifying how children read. He also illustrates “universal” comprehension across literature, and how certain symbols such as “darkness” have a similar meaning in most works (Foster xiv). A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving utilizes one of these widely understood patterns when speaking of the important symbol of the mannequin. The main character, Johnny Wheelwright, often sees the dummy his mother uses for copying clothes in dim light. As a child, he says that “the dummy would startle me,” and that he “would think that the dummy was [his] mother.” (Irving 101) The mannequin makes a dual life for Tabitha, John’s mother. The community
