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franceslievensHaving faith seems easy. It gives meaning to your life. You don't have to figure out things for yourself. You simply do. Make no decisions, let others – God – make them for you. In A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving has a completely different take on the subject. One chooses to belief, to put his or her life in the hands of a god.
Owen Meany is a feeble little boy who lives in Gravesend, New Hampshire. Being only half the size of the other children of his age, he gets frequently teased upon: during Sunday school they pick him up and pass him across the class. In the summer of 1953 Owen's whole life is turned upside down when he hits a foul ball in a little league baseball game and accidentily kills his best friend's mother. From that day on he believes himself to be the instrument of God. There are no accidents according to Owen Meany. Everything he does and all that he is, has a purpose.
John Irving tells the story of an everyday hero, who can be regarded as an everyday Christ. Owen directs the life around him according to his unfaltering faith in God's plan. His peculiar voice – a permanent scream – demands attention and obeyance and leaves a permanent mark on whoever meets him.
Irving's storyteller is Johnny Weelwright, Owen's best friend that lost his mother in that fateful accident at the baseball court. Owen's ultimate destiny, his unmovable faith in God will culminate into Johnny's own belief in God. "I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice [...] because he is the reason I believe in God," Johnny declares at the start of the book. Everything is there, everything is laid out before you in those first few paragraphs: the good, the bad, the important things. But you can't see them. It isn't until you're looking back that you suddenly understand the meaning of it all.
John Irving builds up his story like Johnny's life: trivial and small events become all important clues to what will happen next. Everything has a purpose, like everything in Owen Meany's life had a purpose to that one moment of his death, his moment of heroism. Like Johnny Weelwright we don't see this until we "read" that final moment. When you reread the first couple of paragraphs after finishing the complete book you suddenly see the links, you understand how nothing was a coincidence, like nothing ever had been a coincidence in the life of Owen Meany.
With A Prayer for Owen Meany Irving gives us a peculiar account of what faith might be and why someone believes. Throughout the book non-believers and believers are tested on the faith they have. We can never achieve the kind of faith Owen Meany shows us – a stubborn belief that everything is meant to be. Everything has a purpose. When Owen Meany tries to convince his fictive contemporaries of this, he also tries to convince the reader. When he questions the indecision of Johnny Weelwright, he questions the reader's indecision, his or her wavering with regard to everyday life. The faith Irving shows us through the character of Owen Meany is a faith that's preceded by a choice. One chooses to follow a certain path in the world and believes it to be a good path. It's a lesson Owen Meany gives us in his death, when he leaves this world and can no longer take decisions for us: choose your way to live, and dare to stick by it.
Which is also a tragedy, for what must we choose? Man doesn't like to choose, but wants to be told what to do. It's the easy way out. How hard Owen tried to prepare his friends and us on his death, we won't be able to live up to his expectations. We don't dare to take up a choice and live with unwavering certainty. There is no guidance for us, whether it's God, Owen Meany or work. We simply trudge along, living with the memory of a miracle and knowing that we can never live up to it.
Owen Meany is a feeble little boy who lives in Gravesend, New Hampshire. Being only half the size of the other children of his age, he gets frequently teased upon: during Sunday school they pick him up and pass him across the class. In the summer of 1953 Owen's whole life is turned upside down when he hits a foul ball in a little league baseball game and accidentily kills his best friend's mother. From that day on he believes himself to be the instrument of God. There are no accidents according to Owen Meany. Everything he does and all that he is, has a purpose.
John Irving tells the story of an everyday hero, who can be regarded as an everyday Christ. Owen directs the life around him according to his unfaltering faith in God's plan. His peculiar voice – a permanent scream – demands attention and obeyance and leaves a permanent mark on whoever meets him.
Irving's storyteller is Johnny Weelwright, Owen's best friend that lost his mother in that fateful accident at the baseball court. Owen's ultimate destiny, his unmovable faith in God will culminate into Johnny's own belief in God. "I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice [...] because he is the reason I believe in God," Johnny declares at the start of the book. Everything is there, everything is laid out before you in those first few paragraphs: the good, the bad, the important things. But you can't see them. It isn't until you're looking back that you suddenly understand the meaning of it all.
John Irving builds up his story like Johnny's life: trivial and small events become all important clues to what will happen next. Everything has a purpose, like everything in Owen Meany's life had a purpose to that one moment of his death, his moment of heroism. Like Johnny Weelwright we don't see this until we "read" that final moment. When you reread the first couple of paragraphs after finishing the complete book you suddenly see the links, you understand how nothing was a coincidence, like nothing ever had been a coincidence in the life of Owen Meany.
With A Prayer for Owen Meany Irving gives us a peculiar account of what faith might be and why someone believes. Throughout the book non-believers and believers are tested on the faith they have. We can never achieve the kind of faith Owen Meany shows us – a stubborn belief that everything is meant to be. Everything has a purpose. When Owen Meany tries to convince his fictive contemporaries of this, he also tries to convince the reader. When he questions the indecision of Johnny Weelwright, he questions the reader's indecision, his or her wavering with regard to everyday life. The faith Irving shows us through the character of Owen Meany is a faith that's preceded by a choice. One chooses to follow a certain path in the world and believes it to be a good path. It's a lesson Owen Meany gives us in his death, when he leaves this world and can no longer take decisions for us: choose your way to live, and dare to stick by it.
Which is also a tragedy, for what must we choose? Man doesn't like to choose, but wants to be told what to do. It's the easy way out. How hard Owen tried to prepare his friends and us on his death, we won't be able to live up to his expectations. We don't dare to take up a choice and live with unwavering certainty. There is no guidance for us, whether it's God, Owen Meany or work. We simply trudge along, living with the memory of a miracle and knowing that we can never live up to it.
