Owen and John’s Friendship In John Irving’s novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, friendship develop in a small town in Gravesend, New Hampshire. Throughout their lives from childhood to young adulthood they always were best friends. Friendship between Owen and John runs deep that it can be describe as brotherly love. Owen and John’s relationship shows what a true friend is and how far a friend will go for a friend. Owen Meany is the totally the opposite of John Wheelwright.
Owen is very religious, straight forward person and very intelligent person, while John is not very religious, shy, not very smart and unsure of himself. Owen and John used to always spend time together when they were young. They went to same Episcopal Church and even played in the same baseball team. One day, while playing baseball together it was Owen’s turn to bat. He usually does not hit the ball because of his tinysize but that day he ended up hitting the ball so hard that cause foul ball and hit Tabitha’s left temple ( John’s Mother) by accident, who ended up dead.
Owen felt very guilty about killing his best friend’s mother Tabitha. He gave his baseball card collections that he cherished so much to John. This shows that Owen was very sorry about what happened because he loved Tabitha like his own mother. In return John gave the armadillo to Owen which meant a lot to John. This shows that John is still Ownen’s friends no matter what. When Owen was only eleven years old his parents told him how he was brought into this world. His parents told him that he is a virgin birth. ” We didn’t ever do it.. ”. She just conceived a child like a Christ Child. ” (536). Owen believed that he is God’s instrument. In Owen’s opinion, he had INTERUPTED AN ANGEL, he had DISTURBED AN ANGEL AT WORK, and he had UPSET THE SCHEME OF THINGS. ” (102). This quote helps Owen explain and convince himself that he was used to kill Tabitha because God had made him his instrument. “GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER. MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS. I AM GOD’S INSTRUMENT. ” (87). It shows that the only way for Owen to deal with the accident is by associating it with his faith.
Owen’s undetermined faith helped John go on after his mother’s death. Owen had a dream about his death. He had dream he was gonna die 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam saving the Vietnamese childrean. He also saw John was included in the dream so he did something to John that avoided John from being draft to Vietnam. Owen cut John’s index finger so he would not be qualified in the army. While Owen was about to cut John’s finger he said “ DON’T BE AFRAID… YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT. ” I LOVE YOU…NOTHING BAD IS GONNA HAPPEN TO YOU TRUST ME. It shows that Owen doesn’t want anything to happen to John and is very comforting friend. “THE HARDEST THING I EVER HAD TO DO WAS TO CUT OFF MY BEST FRIEND’S FINGER! WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER, MY BEST FRIEND SHOULD MAKE A CLEAN BREAK FROM THE PAST—HE SHOULD SIMPLY START OVER AGAIN” (557). This shows that Owen did not want to hurt John but he had to cut his best friend’s finger to save him. Owen called John to come stay with him for few days before his death. He did not tell John that the image of his death of date is near. “ HE DOESN’T KNOW WHY HE’S HERE, AND I DON’T DARE TELL HIM.. It shows that he doesn’t want John to worry about what will happen. Owen’s dream became true, he died. Owen’s death and him as an instrument of God, helped John believe in God and that afterlife is true. They experienced death and dying through many deaths from the beginning to the end of the novel. Many events happened to John to lead him to believe in God. John believes in God because of Owen Meany. “O God- please give him back! I shall keep asking You. ” (617). This shows that Johnny will never get over Owen’s death because he was his guidance through life.
