Temporal Reviews: A Prayer for Owen Meany

This complex novel is assuredly Irving's masterpiece. A Prayer for Owen Meany is about the short life of the short Owen Meany. Owen is presented as an oddly Messianic character who believed he was an instrument of the Lord. Whether or not he was an "instrument" is probably less important than that he thought he was.

This novel is also the story of Johnny Wheelwright, WASPish friend of Owen's who has come to worship Owen after Owen's death. This novel is almost equally Johnny's story, in the same way that The Great Gatsby could be said to be about Nick Carraway as much as it is about Jay Gatsby. We see Johnny as not much more than a cipher throughout his life - always living life as the acolyte of Owen Meany.

That Johnny might or might not be a "latent homosexual" is really irrelevant. His experience of knowing and loving Owen Meany has left him unable (or perhaps unwilling) to form human connections in adulthood. Johnny flees the US for Canada, even though Owen had already made Johnny un-draftable. This is really a metaphor for Johnny's flight from human relationships. His self-imposed exile in Canada is truly a lonely one. He keeps himself isolated by his single-minded fanaticism with which he studies American politics. While Owen's life might have made him a Christian, Owen's friendship and love have left him utterly alone in the world.

An interesting juxtaposition in Irving's novel is the comparison of the government's activities in Vietnam with the Iran-Contra scandal. This has a certain amount of relevance today, with respect to the government's prosecution of the war in Iraq. Vietnam was a watershed moment in 20th Centrury American history - the point in time when American's lost faith in their government. Johnny has also lost faith in relationships, it seems.