Who will pardon the United States?

Throughout all of A Prayer for Owen Meany, but especially in these last three chapters, I have been wondering why John hates America so vehemently as an adult. There’s nothing in his childhood that we’ve seen so far that would breed such hatred and disgust. Heck John’s such a passive character that so lives completely in Owen’s shadow that I’m surprised he can even have such a strong opinion of his own.

Here is what we know. John absolutely despises Ronald Reagan and sees him as an immoral president. He lives in Canada after escaping from the draft. And Owen Meany is gone leaving John “doomed to remember” him. All of which leads me to the rather obvious conclusion that it was the Vietnam War that has inspired John’s ardent hatred of the Unites States.

The Vietnam War was not America’s finest moment, and I don’t think anyone looks back at it with pride. Neither Republicans nor Democrats do, and even the veterans of the war look back at it with a certain amount of shame. This is not without reason, for it was a war riddled with atrocities and full of turmoil both at home and abroad. At home President Kennedy was assassinated, men across the country burned their draft cards in protest, the Ohio National Guard opened fire at student protesters in Kent State University killing four and injuring nine more, and the infamous Watergate Scandal caused President Nixon to resign. Abroad victory was measured in men killed rather than territory won, US soldiers massacred the very women and children they were supposed to be protecting at My Lai, the military was almost routed in shocking Tet Offensive, and the US pulled troops out of Vietnam abandoning the South Vietnamese to finish the very war the USA had started in the first place.

This leaves John plenty of reasons to hate the USA on a national and global level, but I think John’s hatred is deeper and much more personal. I think that it took Owen away from him; I think the Vietnam War killed Owen. As of now, I have no concrete proof just the little hints that John Irving has scattered across the story, but all seem to point to this conclusion.

First, we have the issue of the draft. It was Owen who kept John out of Vietnam, “a trick only Owen Could have managed.” (Maybe he forged John some false papers, just like he forged some students at Gravesend Academy false IDs). Then, we have John’s disgust of the Reagan Administration, specifically their “immoral carelessness.” Next, we have John’s anger at Jimmy Carter for pardoning the draft-dodgers, and his letter to the president which states “Dear Mr. President, Who will pardon the United States?” Finally we have a line from all the way back in chapter two. “God knows, Owen gave more than he ever took from me– even when you consider that he took my mother.”

All this leads me to believe that somehow in getting John out of the draft Owen was forced into the army himself. I realize this isn’t WWI anymore, and someone cannot just take your place in the draft, but somehow Owen did. In doing so I believe Owen was killed. Maybe it was through careless troop deployment and strategies, or maybe it was through the heedless use of Agent Orange, but regardless Owen is killed. John feels at fault due to Owen taking his place, and that is why he gets so angry at Carter for pardoning the draft-dodgers; it makes Owen’s sacrifice feel meaningless. The Vietnam War killed Owen Meany, an instrument of God and John’s best friend. Who indeed will pardon the United States?