Theme Of Symbolism In A Prayer For Owen Meany

Not the least of my problems is that I can hardly even imagine what kind of an experience a genuine, self-authenticating religious experience would be. Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.-

A Prayer For Owen Meany vs. Simon Birch Simon Birch is a movie inspired by the book ‘’A Prayer for Owen Meany’’ written by John Irving. I say inspired because the overall plot of the movie is so different from the book, that John Irving had to ask the director to change the names of the characters and other characteristics of the story. Even though the movie is supposed to be somewhat different from the book, the director was not able to portray many recurring themes of the novel that many readers, including myself, enjoyed. Therefore, I believe that it is a good movie, but for the people that have never read the book.

John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany has a curious ending. The narrator, John Wheelwright, acts almost like a tour guide, taking the audience through a voyage of his life and his faith – “And if you look to the left, you’ll see my mom getting hit by a fatal baseball,” John almost seems to say – through the similarly curious Owen Meany, the reason that John is a Christian. For much of the text, A Prayer for Owen Meany seems nearly aimless, simply describing, often in detail of perplexing thoroughness, random childhood memories intercut with his current life with a slightly common yet undefined thread tying them all together. But the ending illuminates each of the seemingly meaningless plot threads, bringing order to the chaos of John’s cluttered memory. The conclusion of A Prayer for Owen Meany sheds lights on the nuances and intricacies of the novel, cementing some interpretations and opening doors to others, ensuring that it is a satisfying and, most importantly, a thought-provoking ending.

A Prayer for Owen Meany takes place in two distinct periods of John Wheelwright's life. These two periods are interwoven together, as in that they constantly move back and forth in time. The first major setting is the quaint town of Gravesend, New Hampshire from 1952 to 1968. The other important setting that we encounter in the novel is in Toronto, Canada in 1987. Most of

There are numerous symbols that John Irving incorporated into A Prayer for Owen Meany. While some symbols only appear in the novel once, other symbols happen to recur throughout the novel. Such recurring symbols are the several manifestations of “armless” figures, which are Tabby’s dressmaker’s dummy, the armadillo, and the statue of Mary Magdalene. The most significant manifestation of the armless figures is Tabby’s dressmaker’s dummy since its symbolism of Tabby primarily contributes to the reader’s understanding of Owen’s belief that he was God’s instrument, as well as the overall theme of predestination.

The prominence of a few themes - amputation, fate and death - create the catharsis required in a tragedy, mainly incidents which “arousing] pity and fear,” (definition). The repetition of these eerie and morbid themes keep them at the forefront of a reader’s mind, and put them in an uneasy emotional state, leading to a sense of catharsis at the end of the long, marathon novel. One main motif through the novel is that of amputation, and armlessness, which come to symbolize loss, helplessness, and the way in which sometimes one’s hands are bound, at the will of something greater. For example, after Owen accidentally kills John’s mother, he borrows John’s stuffed armadillo, a prized playing toy, and returns it without its claws, rendering it “USELESS TO JohN QUOTE,” which Owen means to signify “QUOTE ABOUT IM AM GODS MESSENGER.” This theme is touched upon many more times, and becomes somewhat of an obsession for Owen, who repeatedly removes or adds arms to female figures, including John’s deceased mother’s dressmaker’s dummy, a large catholic stature of a saint, which he desecrates. In irony, or perhaps a fate Owen had foreseen, the novel concludes with Owen losing his arms, protecting a group of Vietnamese children, in his last act of heroism. In addition to the theme of amputation, the theme of fate, and predestiny from God, is woven throughout, particularly perpetuated by Owen, who sees himself as God’s instrument. Owen consistently reminds John of the certainty of fate, and is angered when John does not share his blind faith. Owen believed “there were no accidents; there was a reason for that baseball - just as there was a reason for Owen being small, and a reason for his voice. In Owen's opinion, he had INTERRUPTED AN ANGEL, he had DISTURBED AN ANGEL AT WORK, he had UPSET THE SCHEME OF THINGS (page 102).” Is it Owen’s blind

Humor is difficult to incorporate in writing, yet John Irving captures the essence of humor beautifully in A Prayer for Owen Meany through the use literary techniques and strategies. Although the stories themselves are hilarious, Irving’s writing creativity evokes laughter in the most inapt scenes like Grandma Wheelwright forgets her own grandson. A scene between Barb Wiggin and Owen Meany is particularly funny, and to showcase his jocular writing style in the scene, Irving manipulates punctuation, diction, description to create one of the many unforgettable and comical scenes in the book.

In his novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, author John Irving uses a final chapter of over 100 pages to provide appropriate closure of his intricate novel. In the final chapter, Irving provides answers to large questions the rest of the novel raises. Irving answers the question “who is John Wheelwright’s father?” while also providing further information and closure, as well as the answer to “why the practicing of ‘the shot’ was so important for Owen and John.” Finally, Irving is most thorough in carrying out the closure of a main theme in the novel, Owen’s prophecy of his own exact death, how it happens, when it happens, and most importantly with whom it happens.

Following John’s mother’s death, the boys exchange their beloved belongings. After Owen returned the armadillo, John became outraged that the animal no longer had its “front claws--the most useful and impressive parts of its curious body” (88). This vulnerable animal represents the helpless state of John and Owen’s lives as a result of her death. The Headmaster of Gravesend Academy, Randy White, expels Owen after he catches Owen selling fake draft cards. Owen removes “Mary Magdalene’s arms, above the elbow, so that her gesture of beseeching the assembled audience would seem all the more an act of supplication--and all the more helpless”(409). Owen decides to cut off the arms of the statue to illustrate his powerlessness to alter his expulsion. After the grenade explodes, Owen sustains fatal injuries. John describes Owen’s arms as “severed just below his elbows, perhaps three quarters of the way up his forearms” (625). Owen’s final destiny ends in his heroic death. In Owen’s last moments, he realizes the fulfillment of God’s path for

There are few people in this world who are willing to sacrifice their life for someone else's. The sacrifice of life is the single largest sacrifice one can make and it takes more bravery and compassion than any other act. Even so, in John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Owen is more than willing to do just that. Although he makes many sacrifices, his biggest sacrifice is his own life. In the beginning of the novel, Owen comes across as slightly different with his minuscule size and high pitched voice, but as the novel progresses and Owen ages, his inhuman qualities become more and more prevalent. Eventually, Owen Meany’s supernatural qualities combine with his selflessness and people begin to view him as more than just a compelling

A Prayer for Owen Meany analyzes the relationship between various depths of spirituality in comparison to mundane life. The novel by John Irving uses characters such as Owen Meany and John Wheelwright, to juxtapose the contrasting nature of faith and doubt, and fate and free will.

In the novel’s final chapter, John reveals the climax of the story, Owen’s death. Owen’s death is intricate to the story and by the time this scene is read the audience is already aware of Owen’s untimely death. What makes this scene so important is the manner in which Owen died; being killed by a lunatic’s grenade while saving a group of Vietnamese children. The details of this event fulfill Owen’s Christ-like prophecy of his own death. Owen had previously predicted that he would die on July 8, 1968 saving Vietnamese children from their own certain death, and he did. This sequence of events leaves an unquenched doubt in the audience’s mind as to Owen’s true relationship to a higher power when the

The purpose of war is again in question through the ironic titles evidenced in most of Owen’s poems. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, the sweet and fitting death is contrasted against the bitter and

Owen also uses language of terror and powerlessness for the speaker as the poem progresses. Describing the soldier the speaker has seen fail to attach his gas mask, he says, “I saw him drowning” (14). He dreams of this encounter repeatedly, “[in] all my dreams, before my helpless sight/ He plunges at me” (15-16). In his dreams, he is not only powerless to aid this man, but

Another tool in developing the effectiveness of the poem is the use of compelling figurative language in the poem helps to reveal the reality of war. In the first line, the metaphor, ?Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,?(1) shows us that the troops are so tired that they can be compared to old beggars. Also, the simile "coughing like hags"(2) helps to depict the soldiers? poor health and depressed state of mind. Owen makes us picture the soldiers as ill, disturbed and utterly exhausted Another great use of simile, ?His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,?(20) suggests that his face is probably covered with blood which is the color symbolizing the devil. A very powerful metaphor is the comparison of painful experiences of the troops to ??vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues.?(24) This metaphor emphasizes that the troops will never forget these horrific experiences. As you can see, Owen has used figurative language so effectively that the reader gets drawn into the poem.