A Prayer for Owen Meany
A Prayer for Owen Meany
"GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER. MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS. I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT." (87) A requirement of the human condition is to believe in something. Some people choose to believe in a single god, or many gods, or absolutely nothing at all. Everyone must “believe” in something, because with no tangible proof of our purpose or afterlife, it is impossible to truly “know” anything. Thus, we believe. This requires faith. Seemingly random evils, such as the unfair death of a loved one, can put one’s faith to the test. It helps if what one believes in has the capacity to rationalize some of these harder to swallow realities. In answer to this, a comforting idea of thought is quite popular among spiritual people: fate. The idea of fate walks hand in hand with the belief that God is in control and has a plan, which takes the pressure of responsibility off of believers’ shoulders. In this sense, God maneuvers the arms of people to his will. Owen’s belief that he is God’s instrument manifests itself in the motif of armlessness, which represents the helplessness of people in the face of divine fate and the surrender of the individual to God. Owen, who usually cannot even hit a ball past the pitcher, kills John’s mother with a foul ball in a fateful little league baseball game. This is considered fateful, not because there is in any way to proof that it was “meant to be”, but because the event and set of occurrences leading up to the event are so incredibly random that it is difficult for the human conscious to comprehend this happening without any divine reason. At the age of eleven, Owen already believes that he born of an immaculate conception, so he does not rationalize this act in any other way than an act of God. In order to communicate this to John, he removes the claws of their beloved stuffed armadillo. Without its claws, there is no way for the armadillo to stand upright; it is now truly helpless and dependent
"GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER. MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS. I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT." (87) A requirement of the human condition is to believe in something. Some people choose to believe in a single god, or many gods, or absolutely nothing at all. Everyone must “believe” in something, because with no tangible proof of our purpose or afterlife, it is impossible to truly “know” anything. Thus, we believe. This requires faith. Seemingly random evils, such as the unfair death of a loved one, can put one’s faith to the test. It helps if what one believes in has the capacity to rationalize some of these harder to swallow realities. In answer to this, a comforting idea of thought is quite popular among spiritual people: fate. The idea of fate walks hand in hand with the belief that God is in control and has a plan, which takes the pressure of responsibility off of believers’ shoulders. In this sense, God maneuvers the arms of people to his will. Owen’s belief that he is God’s instrument manifests itself in the motif of armlessness, which represents the helplessness of people in the face of divine fate and the surrender of the individual to God. Owen, who usually cannot even hit a ball past the pitcher, kills John’s mother with a foul ball in a fateful little league baseball game. This is considered fateful, not because there is in any way to proof that it was “meant to be”, but because the event and set of occurrences leading up to the event are so incredibly random that it is difficult for the human conscious to comprehend this happening without any divine reason. At the age of eleven, Owen already believes that he born of an immaculate conception, so he does not rationalize this act in any other way than an act of God. In order to communicate this to John, he removes the claws of their beloved stuffed armadillo. Without its claws, there is no way for the armadillo to stand upright; it is now truly helpless and dependent