62 pages • 2-hour read
A Prayer for Owen Meany
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Themes
Destiny and Human Agency
Owen Meany’s firm belief that the future is pre-determined is a defining feature of his character. When he views his name and date of death on the prop headstone in A Christmas Carol, he does not doubt that this date is accurately announcing the day of his death. This—coupled with the recurring dream Owen has in which he watches himself die while saving Vietnamese children—cements the truth of this destiny in Owen’s mind. It is likely, too, that Mr. and Mrs. Meany’s insistence that Owen was not conceived through sex but born of a virgin birth—like Christ—leads Owen to believe that he is unique to God and chosen for some special sacrifice, much like Christ. Owen’s belief that such events will take place leads him to the certainty that it is futile to attempt to change or prevent their occurrence.
Despite his certainty, he in fact takes steps to ensure that his destiny is carried out, thus exercising some degree of human agency. For instance, he requests a service post in active combat, then asks John to visit him in Phoenix on the date of his death when the dream reveals that John is present for the event. The endless practicing of the basketball shot is a further attempt to manifest his destiny by removing the grenade before it can harm anyone but himself. Interestingly, Owen slightly misunderstands the dream, certain he will die in the country of Vietnam, which turns out not to be the case.
Owen’s unfailing belief that his death is destined to occur at the time and in the manner he has foreseen is met with a variety of responses. Both John and Hester are frustrated by Owen’s staunch belief in the truth of his dream. They feel that, having ”seen” his death play out, Owen would be wiser to take steps to avoid death than to ensure it comes to fruition. Others, like Rev. Merrill and Father Findley, provide a listening ear for Owen, but do not necessarily agree with Owen’s certainty. Mr. Meany, when he discovers Owen had crafted his own headstone with the correct date of death, can offer no other explanation than Owen was gifted with the ability to know the future.
Owen’s insistence on allowing his future to play out as it will suggests that he believes it is wrong to interfere with destiny. For Owen, his destiny is determined by God. To attempt to thwart that destiny would be to violate God’s plan and go against God’s wisdom. In this way, the theme raises questions about the extent to which humans are in control of their own lives, Owen repeatedly insisting that they are instead actors in the plan of a higher power.
Mortality and the Inevitability of Death
Several deaths occur in the novel, shaping John’s life in important ways. The first is the untimely death of his mother, who is struck by the baseball that Owen hits. Her death is regarded as an unfortunate accident by everyone except Owen and, the novel reveals at the end, Rev. Merrill. As Owen ages, he becomes convinced that God used his hands to take the life of John’s mother, making her death not an accident but an inevitable part of God’s plan that could not be altered. This is at odds with Rev. Merrill’s view of Tabby’s death. He confesses to John, years later, that he prayed to God that Tabby would die. In this view, then, human wishes supersede any divine plan, controlling God’s action. These conflicting interpretations of Tabby’s death dovetail with the theme of destiny and human agency, as Owen attributes her death to the former and Rev. Merrill to the latter.
The death of Lydia, too, is sudden and surprising. Because Geraldine is certain that she hears Owen’s voice at the moment of Lydia’s passing, Harriet is certain that Owen has foreseen Lydia’s death. This notion is in keeping with Owen’s insistence that he has been chosen by God, making him a prophetic figure.
The most prominent reminder of mortality prominent throughout the narrative is Owen’s impending death. Owen’s witnessing of his own headstone—coupled with his recurring dreams—cement for him the date of his death. Because the images in his dream—an explosion, Vietnamese children—suggest that he will die in combat in the Vietnam conflict, Owen takes steps to ensure that his death occurs as it is meant to. Other characters disagree with Owen’s commitment, adamant that his death need not be inevitable and that, presented with such advantageous information about the future, Owen should instead take steps to protect himself as the date of his death approaches. To Owen, however, mortality is not only inevitable, but it is part of a divine plan. To stand in the way of this plan, in Owen’s view, is to challenge or deny God’s supremacy. Though Owen misinterprets some of the aspects of his dream, his death does indeed occur on the date foretold to him on the headstone. Owen’s absence, importantly, shapes the lives of Hester and especially of John. He spends the rest of his life fixated on Owen, frequently considering what Owen’s response would be to certain situations or current events. John’s newfound faith in God after Owen’s death implies that John now believes that Owen was correct in his belief that he was an instrument of God and that his death, therefore, was indeed inevitable.
Religious Faith and Doubt
At the onset of the novel, John emphasizes that he “is a Christian because of Owen Meany” (3), immediately establishing religious belief as a key element of the novel’s plot and conflict. Differences in theology among the various denominations in Gravesend—whose citizens are primarily Catholic, Congregationalists, or Episcopalians—create dividing lines at times that imply one set of beliefs is “correct” and others are “wrong.” As a child, John speculates as to why his mother moved from the Congregational church to the Episcopalian church, attempting to find a shift in her theology (before he learns that she had a sexual relationship with the pastor of the Congregational church). Indeed, John spends much of his life feeling rather lukewarm about religion. This is countered by Owen Meany, whose fierce belief in God’s existence is a defining feature of his characterization.
Owen possesses a definitive set of beliefs. He is highly critical of Catholicism, so much so that the sight of both nuns and the Mary Magdalene statue at the local catholic school anger him. He is a vocal proponent of the importance of miracles—adamant that the presence of unexplainable events recounted in the Bible are proof of God’s existence. This proof, then, is all that Owen needs to be certain of God’s existence. He emphasizes to John that, just as he cannot see the Mary Magdalene statue in the dark, he is certain that it is present. In the same way, Owen is certain of God’s existence. Owen frequently engages in theological debates with the Reverend Lewis Merrill, who loses his faith for a time after Tabby’s death. Merrill argues, however, that doubt is essential for faith. Ironically, this proves to be somewhat true for John, who does not become a true believer in a divine being until after Owen has died. For John, Owen’s ability to foresee the date of his death and to be told—via recurring dreams—much of the circumstances of his death, is the proof of both God’s existence and that Owen Meany was specially selected as an instrument of God. John remains critical of and frustrated with Merrill long into his adult life: John cannot understand why, having known Owen and witnessed the “prophecies” foretold in Owen’s dreams come to fruition, Merrill continues to doubt Owen’s importance. In this way, the novel raises questions about the role of evidence in a spiritual belief system, while emphasizing that the nature of faith means believing in what one cannot prove.
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