The saying “opposites attract” perfectly describes Owen Meany and John Wheelwright’s friendship in A Prayer for Owen Meany. Owen is a small, outspoken boy who is always the center of attention, while John is average and seemingly able to blend into the background.
Owen Meany is known for his small size and peculiar voice. His possession of these strange attributes draws people to him; they always want to hold and cuddle him. In addition to being touchable, Owen is respectable because of his strong opinions and mysterious presence. In his church Christmas pageant Owen chooses himself to play baby Jesus, the most important role, yet the role that has no lines. This shows his dominance and clear presence, despite his small size. On top of playing baby Jesus, Owen is selected to play the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in Gravesend’s production of A Christmas Carol. Despite his small size, Owen fills the whole stage with his ominous presence. He frightens the audience so much that people pass out and children cry when he comes out on stage. As Owen says himself sometimes the best actors are the ones that don’t say a word. Owen even has the love and affection of John’s grandma; I would venture to say that John’s grandma loves Owen even more than John himself. They bond over television and she takes Owen shopping by train for a whole new wardrobe for school, while John just wears bleak and average clothes bought in Gravesend.
While Owen Meany makes his presence very well known, John Wheelwright lives in the background. This can be seen when Owen plays the important role of baby Jesus in the Christmas pageant, and John plays the lesser role of Joseph. Just like silent baby Jesus is the star of the Christmas story and the main reason Joseph is included in the Bible, Owen similarly is the star and story of John’s life so far. Looking back on the novel, I can’t think of a story John tells that doesn’t include Owen. Even though the stories that John tells are of his own childhood, Owen is always mentioned. Without Owen, it seems that John would not have much of a story to tell. In fact, I can’t even discuss John’s character without discussing Owen; Owen is such a huge part of John’s story.
So far in the novel John stays in the background and does not talk too much about himself, but focuses mostly on Owen. What I am wondering now is will the story stay focused on Owen or will the spotlight will move onto John?
Lydia's Blog 