A Prayer For Owen Meany Literary Analysis

Aristotle says that "plot is character revealed by action." Great stories are built on the backs of compelling, relatable, and complex characters. They give the reader someone to root for and a reason to continue reading. In the same manner, dull characters produce the harshest criticisms, they drag at the plot and make the reader question whether or not they should even continue reading. In the convoluted novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving's cast of unlikeable and unrealistic characters round out an unlikeable and uninspiring book. The entire novel hinges on a single character, Owen Meany. He is at the heart of the title and first sentence, yet Owen is nothing more than a child that refuses to grow up. Children spend their early years yearning for the freedom grown-ups possess and even Johnny "couldn't wait to grow up and be treated with the kind of respect [he] imagined adults were routinely offered" …show more content…
In A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irving fails at the first step; both of the main characters, Owen Meany and Johnny Wheelwright, are unlikeable and uninspiring. Owen is an unfairly-spoiled brat and Johnny is mindless follower, therefore the end of the novel is no more unfortunate than anything else. Owen's death has no emotional significance because overlaid on the image of Owen sacrificing himself to save the children is the echo of every self-righteous, entitled, and manipulative deed he committed in the first six hundred pages of the novel. Similarly, Johnny's pathetic Canadian life stuck in the past is no more than he deserves for watching his life pass him by. Irving spends an entire novel teaching us to hate Owen Meany and his hapless disciple and then expects his readers to cry when he finally gets what he deserves, instead the thought that comes to mind is "good

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A Prayer For Owen Meany Analysis