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Christianity impact on literature
123 essays on character analysis
123 essays on character analysis
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In A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving conveyed religious overtones throughout the novel. John struggles to develop his faith, while Owen has a doubtless belief in his religion. Owen elucidates his view of religion to John by stating, “ ‘WELL, NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT GOD,’ said Owen Meany. ‘I CAN’T SEE HIM--BUT I ABSOLUTELY KNOW HE IS THERE!’ ” (Irving 451). My immeasurable dedication to faith has dramatically changed my life and has molded me into the person I am today. I was dragged to Catholic church every Sunday as a child. Despite the numerous temper-tantrums, I could not be more thankful for the efforts of my parents. After many Wednesday nights and a hefty amount of volunteer hours, I was confirmed in the Catholic Church. The …show more content…
I struggle to understand their ignorance. Too many miracles happen every day in the world to blame them on luck or chance. One of my Mormon friends was on his mission in Bogotá, Columbia when he pulled over to spread the word of Jesus to a wandering man. The man on the side of the road was contemplating suicide. He prayed for God to send him a message just moments before the arrival of my friend. This miracle is just one example that has solidified my belief in my faith. Some people will not believe in God until they see a miracle. Many Christians and people of all religions have a time in their life when they question their faith. There was a moment when I doubted religion. An avalanche of tragedies piled upon my life in the blink of an eye. My father moved seven hundred miles away, people died, and family members began to discover the effects of methamphetamine. I began to think religion might be a lie. I asked myself, “Why would God make me suffer through this hardship?” By enduring this oppression, the silver lining became apparent. I grasped the true concept of my series of unfortunate events. The circumstances of my childhood have molded me into a stronger
Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is a novel in which religion is of great importance. One of the main themes in this novel is faith in God and oneself, and even more, the conflict between belief and doubt. Irving writes in such a way, that this is very evident throughout the book. John Wheelwright, at the start of the novel, is a young boy who does not seem to know much about how strong his faith really is. Part of the reason for this, is that the choice between believing in and doubting God is that there isn’t any complete evidence that He even exists.
A Prayer for Owen Meany, a novel by John Irving, is a touching and morbid novel riddled with death and uncertainty. It’s overall story, however, about two young boys growing up in the 1950’s, is a story where relationships are tested and also strengthened because of a peculiar child, Owen Meany. Even after the death of Owen Meany himself, the relationship between the two is as strong as ever because after death Owen continues to protect Johnny and let him know he’s not going to leave him. While alive Owen protected Johnny by making it so he could not get drafted into the Vietnam War by cutting off his index finger, effectively making it so the he cannot shoot a gun. Owen however, went along with the war and enlisted himself into it by the ROTC
The main theme of A Prayer for Owen Meany is religious faith -- specifically, the relationship between faith and doubt in a world in which there is no obvious evidence for the existence of God. John writes on the first page of the book that Owen Meany is the reason that he is a Christian, and ensuing story is presented as an explanation of the reason why. Though the plot of the novel is quite complicated, the explanation for Owen's effect on Johnny's faith is extremely simple; Owen's life is a miracle -- he has supernatural visions and dreams, he believes that he acts as God's instrument, and he has divine foresight of his own death -- and offers miraculous and almost undeniable evidence of God's existence. The basic thematic shape of the novel is that of a tension being lifted, rather than a tension being resolved; Johnny struggles throughout the book to resolve his religious faith with his skepticism and doubt, but at the novel's end he is not required to make a choice between the two extremes: Owen's miraculous death obviates the need to make a choice, because it offers evidence that banishes doubt. Yet Johnny remains troubled, because Owen's sacrificial death (he dies to save the lives of a group of Vietnamese children) seems painfully unfair. Johnny is left with the problem of accepting God's will. In the end, he invests more faith in Owen himself than he invests in God -- he receives two visitations from Owen beyond the grave -- and he concludes the novel by making Owen something of a Prince of Peace, asking God to allow Owen's resurrection and return to Earth.
The book A Prayer for Owen Meany brings forth various themes and questions that can't be answered easily. One of these questions is "Can religious faith exist alongside doubt, or are the two mutually exclusive?" There are several different possible takes on this question may be answered. How a person answers this question is related to their belief in faith.
For centuries religion has played a huge role in the black community. From slavery to freedom, religion has help black folk deal with their anger, pain, oppression, sadness, fear, and dread. Recognizing the said importance of religion in the black community, Black poets and writers like Phillis Wheatley and Richard Wright, use religion as an important motif in their literature. Wheatley uses religion as a way to convince her mostly white audience of how religious conversion validates the humanity of herself and others. Wright on the other hand, uses religion in order to demonstrate how religion, as uplifting as it is can fail the black community. Thinking through, both Wheatley and Wright’s writings it becomes apparent that religion is so complex,
"Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean-make sure they know what they mean!" (572). In the novel written by John Irving, A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY, the protagonist, Owen Meany, developed an unusual religious significance. Owen experienced visions of future events, he had a unique type of faith in God that most do not attain, and Owen spoke endlessly to inform people about God. Throughout Owen's life he demonstrated the same characteristics as a prophet through his actions and his words. Thus one could conclude that Owen Meany is a prophet.
God works in mysterious ways. Everything that happens in someone’s life is meant to happen and not a coincidence. People like the idea of believing in a religious and stronger power because it’s a reassuring force that allows people to believe in something when nothing seems to make logical sense. This is exactly the case for the narrator, John, in A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. As stated in the beginning of the novel, Owen is the reason John believes in God and makes him a believer. John’s sense and belief in God allow him to make sense of everything that happens in the novel that didn’t seem possible. The things Owen are capable of and the knowledge he knows prior to the events that occur are only possible if there is a higher power
Similarly, in Johnny's search for faith, nothing happens as promised. In order for Johnny to believe in god, his best friend predicts his own death. Owen Meany predicts his own death and as a direct result gets Johnny to believe in god. He says, "[Owen Meany] is the reason I believe in god; I am Christian because of Owen Meany" (3). Later in the novel, Owen Meany predicts the date of his death and ends up dying on the day he predicts. Sadly, Johnny's best friend has to die in his search for faith because nothing happens as promised. During Johnny’s search for faith he switches churches multiple
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who developed many theories concerning the unconscious mind. Jung’s theories state that the unconscious part of a human’s psyche has two different layers, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is unique to every individual; however, the collective unconscious “is inborn.” (Carl Jung, Four Archetypes, 3) The collective unconscious is present in everyone’s psyche, and it contains archetypes which are “those psychic contents which have not yet been submitted to conscious elaboration” (Jung, Archetypes, 5); they are templates of thought that have been inherited through the collective unconscious. Jung has defined many different archetypes such as the archetype of the mother, the archetype of the hero, the archetype of the shadow, etc. These Jungian archetypes are often projected by the collective unconscious onto others. If the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is examined through a Jungian archetypal lens it is possible to discern different archetypes projected by the protagonist’s unconscious self to illustrate the effects of the collective unconscious on character and plot analysis.
For twelve years I’ve tried to hide my pain and fear from you. I’ve been trying to ignore the horror stories, unknowingly blinding myself from the stories of hope. I’m not as bitter as this story may lead you to think. In fact, I am an adamant believer in the statement (overheard three years ago in the Coffee House): “God has never taken anything away from me that he hasn’t replaced with something better.”
If Steve Harvey asked me about my story, I would immediately say, God wouldn't put anything on me that I could not handle. He has put me through some serious test, but every single test has shaped me to be the person I am. The loss of my great-grandmother put a strain on me mentally and altered my life. My family and I decreased from a comfortable poor to poverty. All of our family has left us high and dry,and I became mentally sick. I loss everything from my memory to my confidence. I struggled to be the gifted student that I knew I was and tested to be. College did not even look possible grade wise or financially. But I brought myself out. I'm building a business, getting my grades back on track and now i'm a full time college student, half
My home church is United Methodist. I have gone there ever since I was a child because that is where my mother went to church. Through researching this paper I found many interesting things about my church. There are many points and issues I agree with and many I disagree with. Writing this really made me think about my denomination closely and if it’s the right one for me.
As I stated before, I grew up in church. In fact, the church I attend today is the one my father started attending when he was only seven months old. I have strong familial ties to my church and that is ultimately where my faith began. I sometimes reminisce back to when my father would sing Amazing Grace with me and my mother would teach me Bible stories. Together, my parents were my Sunday School teachers from third to sixth grade. I loved going to church as a family: my sister, my parents, and myself included. My sister, two cousins, and I even formed a singing group at my church in honor of my grandmother, Minnie (we were called “The Minnie Maberrys”) Needless to say, my family has been an integral part of my faith. I have sought encouragement from them and the wisdom they have instilled in me will remain with me for a lifetime. Another crucial facet of the growing of my faith has been the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization, or FCA for short.
The beginning of my faith journey can be described as rocky, at best. Each Sunday morning my dad would stay home just so that he could catch every possible second of Sunday football coverage. I wasn't even exactly sure who God was; my mom just told me I had to go to church "'cause I said so." This upset me, especially as a child. Furthermore, the example that my father set for me was far beyond comprehension. Who was he to tell me to go to church when he didn't even go himself? For a long time, I lost trust in my parents because I was being led on so many different paths.
I started to cry all the time, even during school. I just couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. I was not the same person anymore. I felt hopeless. I didn’t think that anything would work and no one could do anything about it. I felt so alone and powerless. I kept thinking, "how could God be doing this to me. I 've been in so much pain for so long, when was it going to stop?" I was so frustrated with God that he wasn’t answering my prayers, he wasn 't helping me get through my problems, and I couldn’t help but feeling abandoned by him. This led me to start thinking that he wasn’t there listening to me. I started to question if there really was a God or if this whole Catholic faith was just a joke. I stopped believing in God, because if He was really there, then how could he let his child suffer like this? I would go to church still, but only because my parents made me, but I didn 't sing or say any if the prayers because I didn 't believe in anything they