In an ever changing world, what is promised initially may not always go as planned when it is put to the test. John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, tells the story of Johnny Wheelwright, a boy growing up in Gravesend, New Hampshire, struggling with identity and faith. But one cannot tell the story of Johnny Wheelwright without including Owen Meany, the tiny, dwarflike boy who is the only reason Johnny believes in God. Owen is a major spiritual character and his actions have direct correlations with those of Johnny’s. Throughout his life, Johnny’s views and feelings are constantly changing. The motif in A Prayer for Owen Meany of Thomas Hardy’s quote “Nothing bears out in practice what it promises incipiently” is of major significance in
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John is very torn in his belief of God, on one hand he wants to believe, on the other, he can’t bring himself to do so with all that has happened in his life. Owen is the sole reason John eventually learns to accept God into his life, “he is the sole reason I believe in God; I am Christian because of Owen Meany”(1). Owen’s miracle birth and death is what John uses to justify his belief. If Owen was not predestined to save the Vietnamese children, then John might still be unsure in his faith and religious standing. At the age of 11, Owen tells John that he is God instrument, and that he is destined to do God’s work. John is thoroughly confused, as at that age he is nowhere close to that level of thought, “And you must remember - forgetting about Owen - that at the age of eleven I did not believe there were ‘chosen ones,’ or that God ‘appointed’ anyone, or that God gave ‘assignments’ “(90). John eventually grasps the complexity of Owen’s message and learns to believe in predestination years later, after Owen’s death. He also begins to see how everything Owen ever did was for a purpose later in life, reassuring John’s newly founded belief in predestination. Johns learning to accept Owen as an instrument of God after his death further increases his faith in God. Through changing beliefs and faiths, Johnny develops multiple viewpoints on God, of which he must learn to accept
John is very torn in his belief of God, on one hand he wants to believe, on the other, he can’t bring himself to do so with all that has happened in his life. Owen is the sole reason John eventually learns to accept God into his life, “he is the sole reason I believe in God; I am Christian because of Owen Meany”(1). Owen’s miracle birth and death is what John uses to justify his belief. If Owen was not predestined to save the Vietnamese children, then John might still be unsure in his faith and religious standing. At the age of 11, Owen tells John that he is God instrument, and that he is destined to do God’s work. John is thoroughly confused, as at that age he is nowhere close to that level of thought, “And you must remember - forgetting about Owen - that at the age of eleven I did not believe there were ‘chosen ones,’ or that God ‘appointed’ anyone, or that God gave ‘assignments’ “(90). John eventually grasps the complexity of Owen’s message and learns to believe in predestination years later, after Owen’s death. He also begins to see how everything Owen ever did was for a purpose later in life, reassuring John’s newly founded belief in predestination. Johns learning to accept Owen as an instrument of God after his death further increases his faith in God. Through changing beliefs and faiths, Johnny develops multiple viewpoints on God, of which he must learn to accept