Friday, November 30, 2012

Epitaph



I KNEW I WAS DOOMED TO DIE ON JULY 8, 1968 EVER SINCE THE DAY OF THE A CHRISTMAS CAROL PAGEANT. I WAS THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE AND WHILE ON STAGE I SAW, ON THE PROP GRAVE STONES, MY NAME AND DATE OF DEATH. I HAVE BEEN THINKING OF MY DEATH EVER SINCE. ALTHOUGH I WAS TERRIFIED THE DAY I DISCOVERED THE DATE, I HAVE RECONCILED WITH IT. I KNOW THAT I AM GOD’S INSTRUMENT, AND WHEN HE IS DONE WITH ME, SO BE IT.
I KNEW NOT HOW I WAS TO DIE UNTIL I DREAMED IT. GOD SENT ME A DREAM OF THE MOMENTS OF MY DEATH. I DIED SAVING VIETNAMESE CHILDREN, IN THE ARMS OF A NUN. I FOUND THE IDEA OF DYING IN THE ARMS OF A NUN, THOSE CATHOLIC PENGUINS, REPULSIVE, BUT I KNOW GOD MUST HAVE SOME MEANING BEHIND IT. THANKFULLY, I DISCOVERED THAT I WAS PUT ON THIS EARTH TO SAVE THOSE VIETNAMESE CHILDREN FROM DEATH. SINCE I HAVE THE LUXURY TO KNOW WHEN MY DEATH IS, AND PREPARE, I HAVE DECIDED TO WRITE MY OWN EPITAPH:

Here Lies OWEN MEANY,
of virgin birth.
He was small in stature,
strange in voice,
but enormous in mind and heart.
He was a devoted servant of God,
a true believer and follower of Christianity.
He was put on this Earth
for a special purpose
by the Lord himself.
He died fulfilling his purpose,
saving innocent children.
As he has completed the job God intended him to do,
may he forever rest in peace.

Amputation

A major motif in the novel is that of amputation. The first example of amputation is Lydia, the former housekeeper of Harriet Wheelwright, who had her legs amputated. The next instance is when Owen removes the claws from the coveted stuffed armadillo, in a response to his murder of Tabby, John's mom. Later in the story, when John is desperately seeking to avoid being drafted into Vietnam, Owen removes one of his fingers. In the two major amputations, Owen, who is the instrument of God, is the one who performs the amputations. The final amputation is, however, of Owen himself, when he is killed by the grenade, his arms maimed.

Amputation is a symbol for many things. For one, it represents vulnerability, a major theme as Owen himself is vulnerable throughout his lifetime. It also represents instability. The main instance of this is how the claw-less armadillo is unable to stand quite properly, similar to John's life after the death of his mother. Amputation also is a symbol for loss, a highly prevalent theme, as John loses his mother, and Hester, who he is never able to be with, and ends up growing less fond of. Finally, as Owen is the main one who amputates, and gets amputated, amputation is another way to demonstrate that Owen is an instrument of God.

The abstract image above displays John's separated hand and finger, Owen being maimed by the explosion, Lydia in her wheelchair, and a claw of the armadillo.

John Wheelwright Diary Entry



I'm not an American.

Even though my fellow Canadians claim that, despite my citizenship, I am not one of them, I refuse to accept that I am still an American. I do not have any citizenship in the United States. No passport, social security, or anything of the sort accept my birth certificate, which will always be American (but that is out of my control). Even if I still had American citizenship, I could not call myself an American.

It is difficult to say when my heart left the U.S. It could have been the Vietnam draft, which I tried so hard to avoid. But more likely, it was the death of Owen Meany. When I lost Owen, I lost not only my best friend, but the greatest miracle that I will ever see. I doubted my faith in a lot of things, especially America. As a look across the border to the south, I feel disgust. I would be ashamed to be called an American.

An American. The most arrogant and ignorant type of person in the world. Americans seem to believe that they are God's chosen people. They seem to believe that they were put on this Earth to "guide" the rest of the world. Yet they no less about the rest of the world than the people of any other country. I would bet that most Americans could not name ten other countries. I know that most of them have not set foot out of the U.S.

It is this dangerous combination of arrogance and ignorance that has wrecked destruction on the rest of the world. For example, Vietnam. As soon as the threat of communism approached, America saw it as it's duty to trample on the jungles of Southeast Asia, to slaughter thousands of innocent Vietnamese. Or Iran. They elected a democratic leader, but he dared to take the oil that was rightly the Iranians. So the U.S. decided to replace him. Even if it was with an extremist who cast the Iranians into poverty. How could I call myself an American after that? How am I supposed to be proud of my heritage? I could not travel to any country and look into the eyes of people looking back at me as an American.

The tragedy is, however, that while I have successfully removed myself from the hated status of being an American, the people around me refuse to recognize me as a Canadian. They say I am not one of them, that I have not, and refuse, to assimilate with their culture. Apparently, loudly expressing opinions, even if they are specifically anti-American, is a very American thing to do. So I remain, trapped in my identity, surrounded by people who see me differently than I see myself.


Owen Meany- An Instrument of God


Rhetoric Study



This was Christ Church, the Episcopal Church of Gravesend, New Hampshire. Our
Sunday school teacher was a strained, unhappy-looking woman named Mrs Walker.
We thought this name suited her because her method of teaching involved a lot of
walking out of class. Mrs Walker would read us an instructive passage from the Bible.
She would then ask us to think seriously about what we had heard - 'Silently and
seriously, that's how I want you to think!’ she would say. 'I'm going to leave you
alone with your thoughts, now,' she would tell us ominously - as if our thoughts were
capable of driving us over the edge. 'I want you to think very hard,' Mrs Walker would
say. Then she'd walk out on us. I think she was a smoker, and she couldn't allow
herself to smoke in front of us. 'When I come back,' she'd say, 'we'll talk about it.'

By the time she came back, of course, we'd forgotten everything about whatever it
was - because as soon as she left the room, we would fool around with a frenzy.
Because being alone with our thoughts was no fun, we would pick up Owen Meany
and pass him back and forth, overhead. We managed this while remaining seated in
our chairs - that was the challenge of the game. Someone - I forget who started it -
would get up, seize Owen, sit back down with him, pass him to the next person, who
would pass him on, and so forth. The girls were included in this game; some of the
girls were the most enthusiastic about it. Everyone could lift up Owen. We were very
careful; we never dropped him. His shirt might become a little rumpled. His necktie
was so long, Owen tucked it into his trousers - or else it would have hung to his knees
- and his necktie often came untucked; sometimes his change would fall out (in our
faces). We always gave him his money back.
             

             John Irving is an extremely effective writer, and the impact of his rhetoric is seen throughout the novel. The precision of his writing is remarkable- there are few to no passages of A Prayer for Owen Meany that do not contain masterful rhetorical strategies that impact the reader. The above passage, at the very beginning of the story, is particularly effective because is hooks the reader in, one of a writer’s greatest challenges. This passage demonstrates that even in the exposition, passages can have a profound impact on the reader, by introducing the characters, theme, and plot while simultaneously drawing the reader onward.
            The very first clause “This was Christ Church” already introduces and effective rhetorical strategy. By saying “this” instead of “it” or “Christ Church was…”, Irving subtly establishes a first person voice, making the story out to be like a memory. The story-telling quality is important, as it keeps the reader interested (everyone likes to hear a good story). Irving then proceeds to introduce an extremely insignificant character, Mrs. Walker, but manages to convey her personality as concisely as possible, by revealing her one character trait, her inattentiveness to the students, in her name: “her method of teaching involved a lot of walking out of class”. This is an important device, as it introduces a character trait without boring the reader through a drawn out description. As the passage proceeds, a slight paradox is seen, as the teacher tells her students to “think silently”, even though our thoughts are loud in our own heads. In the last few sentences of the first paragraph, Mrs. Walker’s dialogue is dispersed between the narrators personal view of her, connecting the reader to the narrator.
            One effective element of Irving’s writing style on display in the second paragraph: dashes. Less tiresome than commas, less direct than colons, dashes are impactful in that they allow the authors voice to flow more actively, while including important descriptions in context. The remaining impactful elements of the paragraph are how Irving reveals aspects of Owen’s character in an entirely indirect, story-telling way. He draws attention again to Owen’s vulnerability to others, as they “we would pick up Owen Meany and pass him back and forth, overhead” like an animal or toy. Irving quickly makes it clear, however, that everyone, and especially the narrator, loves and cares about Owen, as they “were very careful”, never dropping him. At the conclusion of the passage, Irving reemphasizes an important trait of Owen, his dwarf size, by mentioning that his necktie would have “hung to his knees”.
            Although expositional passages are often viewed as not very impactful, John Irving challenges this notion, by impacting the reader through careful character development. To develop the characters in a way that is engaging to the reader, Irving employs numerous rhetorical strategies. He manages to briefly describe the unimportant characters through their very name, while emphasizing aspects of important characters through the subtle means of storytelling. He also works to keep the voice of the narrator genuine, through consistent first person narration and non-interrupting punctuation such as dashes.
            

Friday, November 2, 2012

Collage

Images

Mannequin
The image of the mannequin clothed in a red dress standing over the sleeping woman (Tabitha), represents several meanings. The mannequin itself represents a protector, a guardian angel, or the man missing from Tabitha’s life. The red dress was the one outfit of hers that had any color, but she refused to wear it. The red dress represents new experiences, risk, and discomfort.

Claws grasping baseball
This image is never actually seen in the book, but is imagined by John, after Owen returns his stuffed armadillo, with its claws missing. After Owen accidentally killed John’s mom, he sent John his baseball card collection. John, after Dan’s instruction, returned the cards to Owen along with the armadillo, an object of value to both him and Owen. Owen returned the armadillo, but with the claws missing, to represent what he took away from John (his mother). John imagines that in Owen’s room the baseball that killed his mother is grasped by the four armadillo claws. The image is representative of the mystery of Owen, his collective nature, and his ownership of the death of Tabitha. The claws represent the hands of God, which are believed to have brought Tabitha’s death.

Armadillo
The stuffed armadillo was a gift given to John from Dan, Tabitha’s eventual husband. It is greatly treasured by both John and Owen. It is the most mentioned image of the novel, and holds many significant meanings. For one, it represents the bond of friendship between Owen and John, as it is considered the ultimate sign of trust for John to leave it with Owen, and is used to reconcile Owen’s killing of John’s mom Tabitha. When its claws are removed, it represents John’s life after his mom’s death, as the armadillo is unable to stand up, representing the permanent damage to John. The claws represent the hands of God, which brought Tabitha’s death.

The Church
 The image is of the Congregational Church, a building that is described as simplistic, painted white with bright, open windows that offer views of the world around. This is presented in stark contrast with the Episcopal Church, which is shady, made of stone, and dim with stained glass windows. The church represents John’s view of religion, in that it should be focused less on fear but openness, as seen by the wide views to the world around from within the church,.


SnapPhwack

            Snap. IT WAS THE SOUND I HAD WAITED FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE. IT WAS THE SOUND OF MY BAT CRACKING AGAINST THE BASEBALL, SENDING IT SOARING INTO THE STANDS. I HAD TRIED MANY TIMES TO PRODUCE IT, BUT ULTIMATLEY FAILED BECAUSE OF MY PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. BUT THAT DAY, THE DAY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING, THE HAND OF GOD HIMSELF GUIDED BY BAT, SWINGING IT THROUGH THE AIR, TO MAKE THE LONG AWAITED CONNECTION.
            I SWUNG AS HARD AS I COULD, AS THE COACH’S ENCOURAGEMENT, TWISTING BY BODY SO THAT I FELL, CONTORTED, TO THE DIRT. IT WAS AS I HAD ALWAYS DREAMED. THE BALL FLEW SOARED OFF THE WOOD, FLYING PAST THE ASTONISHED FACES OF THE CROWD. BUT THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER SOUND. Phwack. THE BALL MADE ANOTHER CONNECTION, WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD.
            THE BALL, WHICH HAD BEEN FOULED, HIT TABITHA, JOHN’S MOM, SQUARE IN THE FACE, KNOCKING HER BACKWARDS INTO THE BLEACHERS. I KNEW AS SOON AS THE BALL TOUCHED HER FACE THAT SHE WAS DEAD. I KNEW THAT I HAD KILLED TABITHA WHEELWRIGHT, THE GLORIOUS MOTHER OF MY BEST FIREND, AND A MOTHER TO ME.
            SO I RAN. RAN AWAY FROM JOHN, HIS MOM’S CORPSE, THE TOWN, MY SHOCK. I JUMPED ONTO MY BICYCLE, AND RODE. ROAD AWAY WITH A FLUTTERING HEART, WITH GASPING BREATHS.
            AT FIRST MY MIND GROPED FOR SOLID GROUND, TO BRING MYSELF BACK TO MY SENSES. EVENTUALLY, I CAME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN. I CAME TO UNDERSTAND THAT I WAS PLACED ON THIS EARTH AS A TOOL OF GOD, TO CARRY OUT HIS  BIDDING.
            I HAD ROBBED THE ANGEL OF DEATH ITS PREY, SO THE TASK OF BRINGING TABITHA TO GOD’S KINGDOM WAS LEFT UNTO ME. HE ACTS WHEN WE LEAST EXPECT IT, AT THE END OF A BORING BALLGAME. BUT ACT HE DID, USING ME TO KILL MY TRUE MOTHER, THE MOTHER OF MY BEST FRIEND, TABITHA WHEELWRIGHT.

A Religious Theme

            A central theme of the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, by Irving, is religious tension and conflict. The story is set in a typical New England small town in New Hampshire, and the three main denominations focused on are Episcopalianism, Congregationalism, and Catholicism. While all three are denominations of Christianity, the three are sources of internal conflict within both the narrator, John Wheelwright, and Owen Meany himself. Furthermore, tensions arise within family and town dynamics frequently, especially at the wedding of John's mom, Tabitha, and Dan Needham. The religious tensions in the novel are set in a microcosm of America, and accurately reflect the American divisions of religion, especially within the context of Christianity.
            Although religious conflict is rife around the world, it represents a unique type of conflict when placed in the context of American life. While the majority of Americans are Christian, there is not one denomination that dominates the nation's religious philosophy, unlike in many European nations. Furthermore, the tensions between different sects of Christianity are less openly divisive, manifesting themselves in family or local drama, rather than in large scale conflicts such as in the Middle East.
            Originally, John and his mother both attended Congregational church, but as his mother engaged in her courtship of her eventual husband, they began to transition to the Episcopal church, his denomination. The move upsets Tabitha's mother, a staunch Congregationalist, as she views the Episcopal Church as close to the Catholic Church, as it is filled with hierarchy. This view was at the core of the Puritan settlers of America, who abandoned their native England due to it's church hierarchies. The view has also led to tensions throughout American history, as seen during the influx of Irish and Italian immigrants. Owen Meany also moves to the Episcopal Church, but from the Catholic Church. Owen Meany points out that this move is different than John's, claiming it is moving to less strict Christianity rather than more strict in the case of John, and he fears damnation.
            The intense religious dynamics of John's family are on full display throughout the planning of Tabitha's wedding, in the decision of which minister should officiate the wedding. Tabitha must choose between the charismatic preacher of her Congregationalist past, or her present dry Episcopal priest. Her mother, of course, desperately advocates for the Congregationalist preacher, as does John and other town members who desire his more exciting presence at the ceremony. Tabitha, however, partially wants the Episcopal priest in order to welcome Dan and his family. In the end, both pastors co-officiate the wedding, a type of compromise made by many American families in order to resolve interfamilial religious strains. 
            The novel explores the theme of religious contention through family and small town dynamics. One major aspect of American culture is it's religious diversity, both outside and within Christianity. The compromise made in the wedding is exemplary of American society today, which struggles with religious tensions, but in the end seeks to be unified. 

Character Study

            MY NAME IS OWEN MEANY, AND I AM CONSIDERED BY MOST TO BE VERY SMALL, AND TO HAVE A STRANGE VOICE. THE OTHER KIDS (AND SOMETIMES DULTS) ARE ALWAYS TOUCHING AND TICKLING, THROWING ME ABOUT AS IF I WAS A TEDDY BEAR. I DONT MIND IT THAT MUCH AND I AM NOT WITHOUT FRIENDS.
            MY BEST FRIEND IS JOHN. JOHN WHEELWRIGHT, AS HIS STERN GRANDMOTHER WOULD POINT OUT, IN AN EFFORT TO ESTABLISH HER HIGH PEDIGREE. JOHN IS MY BEST FRIEND BECAUSE HE PLAYS WITH ME, RATHER THAN USING ME AS A TOY. WE ALWAYS PLAY AT HIS HOUSE, BECAUSE MY PARENTS ARE CONSIDERED "STRANGE". FURTHERMORE, I LIKE TO GO TO JOHN'S HOUSE TO GAZE UPON THE BEAUTY THAT IS HIS MOTHER, TABITHA. SHE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, AND TO BE SNUGGLED IN HER WARM, CARING EMBRACE IS SOMETHING THAT NEVER FAILS TO DELIGHT ME. IT WAS I, HOWEVER, WHO KILLED HER, ON THAT FATEFUL DAY WHEN MY FOUL BALL STRUCK HER TEMPLE, AND SHE COLLAPSED, NEVER TO WAKE UP.
            I KNOW BECAUSE OF THIS THAT I AM AN INSTRUMENT OF GOD. I ONCE INTERRUPTED AN ANGEL OF DEATH, WHO WISHED TO TAKE TABITHA, SO THE TASK WAS LEFT TO ME TO MOVE HER TO HIS KINGDOM. I DON'T KNOW IF JOHN BELIEVES ME, BUT AT LEAST HE IS STILL FRIENDS WITH ME. DAN, HER WIDOWER, HELPED BOTH OF US THROUGH THE TIME AFTER HER DEATH. DAN MET HER IN BOSTON, WHEN SHE WAS AT ONE OF HER MANY VOICE LESSONS. DAN UNDERSTANDS EVERYONE, AND A FANTASTIC BELIEVER IN THE CAPABILITY OF EVERY HUMAN BEING, AS SEEN IN HIS DRAMA PRODUCTIONS.
            THE OTHERS OUTSIDE MY FAMILY ARE OF COURSE ALSO RELATED TO JOHN. SPECIFICALLY, HIS RAMBUNCTIOUS COUSINS COULD BE CONSIDERED FRIENDS, OR PLAYMATES AT THE LEAST. BEFORE MEETING THEM, I STUDIED UP ON THEM A GREAT DEAL, PREPARING MY SMALL BODY FOR THE ROUGH TUSSLE THAT THE COUSINS INEVITABLY WOULD INVOLVE ME IN. THE TWO BOYS, SIMON AND NOAH, ARE BOTH EXTREMELY PHYSICAL, BUT NOAH, BEING THE OLDEST, IS SLIGHTLY LESS CRAZY THAN HIS YOUNGER SIBLING. THEY BOTH TEASE THEIR YOUNGER SISTER, HESTER, WHO DOES NOT LIVE THE HAPPIEST OF LIVES, CONSTANTLY ABUSED BY HER BROTHERS. I SUSPECT THAT JOHN HAS A CRUSH ON HER, BUT IS ASHAMED, AS HESTER IS HIS COUSIN, EVEN IF SHE DOES POSSESS A UNIQUE, IF MANISH, BEAUTY AND WILD SPIRIT.