a prayer for owen meany essays

a prayer for owen meany essays A Prayer for Owen Meany, written by John Irving in 1989, is a novel that delves into many sensitive areas of American culture. Among the most prevalent of these are religion, anti-war, and anti-Americanism. This novel raises many questions about America and its values and, in most cases, shows America as the enemy of its own people. The story takes place in a small New Hampshire town before and during the Vietnam War. Johnny Wheelwright, a Canadian immigrant, in retrospect, narrates the novel. Johnny befriends a boy named Owen Meany who among many other oddities is a tiny boy with a shrill voice. Owen is responsible, by means of a fluke foul ball, for the death of Johnnys mother. Owens parents, who are not very stable or supporting, give Owen the impression that he was a miraculous virgin birth and thus the tool of God. When the boys school decided to perform A Christmas Carol for the school play, Owen is cast (more appropriately, casts himself) as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. While acting his part Owen faints on stage. Upon waking, Owen claims to have seen his name and date of his death on the prop tombstone. The two boys then go on to attend a private prep school together. It is here that Owen insists that Johnny help him with the shot. This is where Johnny lifts Owen up as he runs towards t he basketball hoop to complete a slam-dunk. As the two grow older they both attend college and Owen enrolls in the ROTC program. He does so because he believes that God had called him to fight in Vietnam and die saving a group of Vietnamese school children. Owen also believes that Johnny has no place fighting in Vietnam and decides to help keep him out of the senseless war. To do so, Owen devises a plan to cut of Johnnys trigger finger, thus making him ineligible for the draft. While at the airport in Arizona (where Owen was stationed) the two come upon some nuns caring for a group of ...