On the second page the narrator John Wheelwright states “What faith I have I owe to Owen Meany . . . It is Owen who made me believe in God.” This was a great line that immediately piqued my interest, but I was also struck to how similar of an opening line it was to Yann Martel’s Life of Pi which opens with “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” At first I thought these similarities an interesting coincidence, but throughout chapters one through three the parallels continued.
- Both stories are centered around the title character, but told by a different character. In A Prayer for Owen Meany by Owen’s best friend John Wheelwright. In Life of Pi an author who discovers and tells Pi’s story.
- Both are told from the present and look back into the past.
- Both reveal key events like Johnny’s mom dying and Pi surviving being lost at sea but the reader doesn’t get to experience the story till later.
Another thing that struck me was how Johnny’s mom Tabitha is portrayed. Owen is the one who is frequently compared to and outright called an angel, but it seems to me that Johnny’s mom is like one too as she is portrayed as nearly perfect. Like an angel she is mesmerizing and beautiful, has an amazing voice, and is almost inhumanly kind and calm. Despite these qualities, however, I think of her as a fallen angel rather than a heavenly angel. And it would be not being married to Johnny’s father that caused her to fall. It is the way she died that solidified this thought.
The reader is lead to believe that Owen is the instrument of God, and therefore it was God’s will that Johnny’s mother die. But why would God have one of the angels killed? He would not unless they had sinned and fallen. The old crones of the town had always gossiped about how Johnny’s mom had suffered no real consequences for what she did. Her calm and charming self had just made it impossible for anyone to want to punish her. The crones presence at the funeral says “We acknowledge, O God, that Tabby Wheelwright was not allowed to get off scot-free.” Even angels have to pay for their sins.
Mary's AP English Blog 
Your connection between Life of Pi and A Prayer for Owen Meany is exactly what I noticed from the very first page. I never picked up on the similarity between narrators, but the perspective really helps develops both novels. My favorite thing about the two is, as you mentioned above, the way the key events are revealed with little to no detail- both dealing with belief in God. For someone to instill faith into someone else, whether it be through a story or experiences, must reveal something very powerful. Knowing the ending right off the bat leaves you digging for details, trying to find that moment that leads to, in this case, belief. Although we don’t know exactly what it was that made Johnny believe in God, I assume based on the similarities it will mimic that of Life of Pi.
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Is the sin “not being married to Johnny’s father” OR having extra-marital relationships? Is the sex outside of marriage ok, as long as she isn’t married? I didn’t quite follow your train of thought.
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