A Prayer for Owen Meany Themes

A Prayer for Owen Meany Themes

Faith and Doubt

The theme of religious faith versus doubt is prominent throughout the novel. Owen Meany has an absolute faith in God and seems to have possessed it from a very early age. When he is eleven, for example, he tells John that God knows who John's father is and will eventually identify him. Owen never doubts that there is a purpose to everything, and his faith in his own destiny as decreed by God never wavers.

In contrast, John, as a child, has no particular religious beliefs or faith. He learns to believe in God mostly through his knowledge of Owen's seemingly miraculous life and death—particularly the fact that Owen possessed foreknowledge of the exact date and circumstances of his own death. However, John is never without his doubts. After Owen's death and his own move to Canada, John joins the Anglican Church, but it takes him years to accept...
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