John assists Owen in rescuing the children, but John always plays the supporting part in Owen's adventures. Given John's dislike of Gravesend Academy, which expelled Owen, did you find it interesting that John later taught at an academy in Toronto? In what other ways does John, as an adult, embrace issues or events that he was indifferent or hostile to as an adolescent?ġ1. Owen Meany taught John that "Any good book is always in motion-from the general to the specific, from the particular to the whole and back again." Do you think Irving followed his own recipe for a good book? Supply examples in support of your position.ġ0. Throughout the novel, John gives hints to the forthcoming action, adding, "As you shall see." Did you find this to be an effective way to keep you reading and engaged in the story?ĩ. Did Irving's references to the armless Indian and the pawless armadillo prepare you for Owen's sacrifice? What other clues did Irving give about Owen's final heroic scene?Ĩ. John refers to himself on other occasions as "just a Joseph." Do you see John's role as Joseph-like throughout the story? Are there other biblical characters with whom you identify John?ħ. An observer necessary to the Christmas Pageant but seldom an ac-tive participant, John plays Joseph to Owen's baby Jesus. Do you think Owen ever considers himself Christlike?Ħ. Name other instances when Owen's feelings toward his family seem conflicted. Owen dislikes the Catholic Church for turning away his parents, but Owen himself makes the Meanys leave the Christmas Pageant.
The Meanys claim that, like Jesus, Owen was the product of a vir-gin birth.
Do you think the genuineness of Owen's miracle makes the birth of John's faith more valid than the faith engendered by Merrill's bogus miracle?ĥ. Later, John's involvement in Owen's rescue of the Vietnamese chil-dren spurs John's own faith: "I am a Christian because of Owen Meany," he says. Merrill experiences a bogus miracle and resurgence of faith when John stages his mother's dressmaker dummy outside the church. Do you believe that one can exist without the other or that one strengthens the other? Was your opinion about Merrill's views on faith and doubt affected by the revelation of his relationship to John Wheelwright?Ĥ.
Reverend Merrill always speaks of faith in tandem with doubt. Why is Owen's voice so important? What other occasions can you think of in which Owen's voice played an especially mean-ingful role?ģ. At the academy, he is even referred to as the Voice. Owen speaks and writes in capital letters, emphasizing the potency of his strange voice. What other deaths was Owen indirectly involved with? Do you find Owen's close relationship with death to support or undermine his miraculous purpose?Ģ.
Though he's portrayed as an instrument of God, Owen Meany causes the death of John's mother.
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