Owen Meany

Life is full of surprises and doesn’t always turn out the way you think it will. Everyone has huge expectations for a variety of things. For example, a birthday party, learning a new language, an episode of their favorite show, and even their academic performance in school. Thomas Hardy expresses this through his quote, “Nothing bears out in practice what it promises incipiently.” John Wheelwright, the narrator and main character of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, can easily relate to Hardy’s quote. John’s life doesn’t play out the way he plans for it to. Throughout the novel, John struggles to find many things, but is able to with the help of his tiny best friend, Owen Meany. Owen assists him while alive and even after he dies, as John
The mother he thinks he knows is actually a completely different person and the man he dreams his father is ends up being false hope as his real father’s identity disappoints him. As a little boy, John is alright with not knowing his father’s identity because his mother will tell him when he is older. However, when his mother dies, he feels cheated out of information he has a right to know. John thinks he knows his mother, but she is not who he thinks she is. She sings under the name “The lady in red” and dresses quite differently from the way she does in Gravesend. Owen accompanies John to Boston to help him discover the truth about Tabitha, John’s mother. The two visit the store where Tabitha purchased her red dress. Jerrold, the owner says, “Sure I know her! It was the dress she always sung in!” (7.347). Jerrold’s reaction to Tabitha’s picture shows John that his mother is not someone he knows and that she lived a completely different life. While Owen is alive to help discover the truth about Tabitha, he helps John discover who his father is after he dies. John is talking to Reverend Merrill when Owen’s voice tells him to “LOOK IN THE THIRD DRAWER, RIGHT-HAND SIDE” (9.542). Reverend Merrill yanks the drawer open, which causes the baseball that killed Tabitha to roll across the floor. The Reverend then turns to John and says, “Forgive me, my s-s-s-son!” (9.542). John feels disappointment when Reverend Merrill admits
In the beginning of the novel, John talks about how he keeps switching churches throughout his life. He also mentions, “I became rather vague in my religion” (1.1). John’s disappointment in religion is shown by him switching churches and being uncertain in his religion. His disappointment in religion also shows during Christmas vacation of 1961 when Owen and him are practicing their special move in the gym with the janitor keeping track of their time. John is arguing with Owen about him thinking he is God’s instrument when he says, “for someone your age, and of your education, to go around thinking he’s God’s instrument!” (7.338). John disappointment in religion shows as he remarks at Owen thinking himself to be God’s instrument. John’s reaction gives the idea that he thinks that there is no such thing as God’s