In John Irving's quirky novel A Prayer for Owne Meany, the
novel moves throughout time, but there is prevalent through this time, the spectre of
John's mother whom Ownen accidentally kills with a foul ball that he hit while playing
little league baseball. This death, of course, affects the relationship between John,
the narrator, and Owen.
John's mother's presence in the
novel leads to two key motifs: the dressmaker's dummy that she has kept in her bedroom
and the red dress that she bought on one of her trips to Boston where she took singing
lessons. In addition, Owen has had a dream when he went to Tabitha's bedroom once that
he saw an angel; later, he tells John that because this angel was interrupted by his
presence, it brought death to John's mother with Owen as its
agent.
Another character who influences the lives of John
and Owen is John's cousin Hester Eastman who is pivotal to the themes of the burgeoning
sexuality of the boys and gender relations. Bitter about what she perceives as her
parents' favoritism toward her brothers, Hester becomes an emotional and very aggressive
female in sexual relations. There is also a somewhat murky identification with her
cousin John both sexually and emotionally as Hester is deeply affected by Owen Meany's
death, just as is John Wheelwright.
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