A Prayer for Owen Meany 2

A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO ALIGNED TO THE COMMON CORE “Among the very best American novels of our time.” —Charlotte Observer www.HarperAcademic.com A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO JOHN IRVING’S A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY 2 Table of Contents Contents To the Teacher 3 Praise For John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany 3 About This Guide 4 Following and Understanding The Novel 5 Written Response 5 Questions for Class Discussion and Debate 7 Research and Essay Topics 9 Notes on the Novel’s Secondary Characters 12 About the Author of A Prayer For Owen Meany 13 About This Guide’s Author 13 A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO JOHN IRVING’S A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY 3 To the Teacher CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10 “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.” So begins A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving’s unforgettable, gorgeously written coming-of-age saga of two American boys—one from a world of privilege and family connections, the other from a working-class family; one wrestling with doubt, the other brimming with faith; one initially indifferent to the life of the mind, the other almost supernaturally brilliant. It is the summer of 1953, and early in the novel these two boys—best friends by now, aged eleven—are playing in a Little League game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball (a freak line-drive shot) that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hit that ball doesn’t believe in accidents; for him, all things have a purpose or reason behind them. As for his own purpose, his own reason for existing, Owen Meany believes that he is God’s instrument. And John Wheelwright, the boy whose glamorous-yet-earthy, beloved-yet-mysterious mother died on that fateful day, is finally revealing—with the extraordinary tale (or “prayer”) that is this novel—the full story of the boy he’s “doomed to remember.” “The only thing wrong with me is what’s missing,” (tp 540, mm 531) claims our narrator near the end of the novel. “Owen Meany is missing.” Haunted yet invigorated by the strange but true martyrdom of his best friend, equally given to sorrowful musings and rueful rants, John is now a man without a country, a Nick without a Gatsby, and maybe even a middle-aged English teacher without a clue—but he’s also, as we discover, a devout and devoted convert. (He’s a believer, and he’s nothing if not reflective . and verbose.) It’s an amazing and quite moving journey, the trek that John and Owen share—and it’s one that, somehow, goes on for decades after Owen Meany’s death. Sweeping effortlessly and engagingly from the innocence of the early 1950s to the bizarre nightmare of the late 1960s—from the pranks and jokes of Sunday school to the protests and regrets of an entire generation—A Prayer for Owen Meany remains a mas- terpiece of contemporary American fiction. It is a meditation on faith, fate, and friendship that students are certain to remember long after the last page is read. The questions and activities in this teaching guide were written to support standards-based instruction. A Prayer for Owen Meany meets the standard for Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity for grades 11-12. It is a perfect complement to courses in American Literature, and Contemporary Literature. A complete list of the Common Core State Standards can be found at http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards. Praise For John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany “The magic ofA Prayer for Owen Meany is that it forces us into a confrontation with our own carapaces of skepticism. It is a brave and subtly disturbing affirmation of faith, and it is all the more remarkable for its engagement with the deepest questions, the most painful mysteries of our lives.” —Los Angeles Times “John Irving, who writes novels in the unglamorous but effective way Babe Ruth used to hit home runs, deserves a medal not only for writing this book but for the way he has written it. A Prayer for Owen Meany is a rare creation [and] an amazingly brave piece of work. So extraordinary, so original, and so enriching. Readers will come to the end feeling sorry to leave [this] richly textured and carefully wrought world.”—Stephen King, Washington Post Book World “Irving delivers a boisterous cast, a spirited storyline, and a quality of prose that is frequently underestimated.”—Time A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO JOHN IRVING’S A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY 4 About This Guide This Teacher’s Guide is mainly divided into two sections. The first, “Following and Understanding the Novel,” will help students with reading comprehension, narrative appreciation, plot adherence, and related matters. This section is subdivided into questions for class discussion/debate and prompts for written responses. The second section, “Research and Essay Topics,” will enable students to think more freely or comparatively about this novel. (Also, some of the questions in the second section might work well as individual assignments or independent projects.) A supplementary section, “Notes on the Novel’s Secondary Characters,” is offered by way of conclusion. A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO JOHN IRVING’S A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY 5 Following and Understanding The Novel WRITTEN RESPONSE CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 1. Who or what is “Watahantowet” (tp 10, mm 8)? Describe this figure; explain why it reappears throughout the book. What is it about Johnny’s stuffed armadillo—or the vandalized statue of Mary Magdalene, or Tabby Wheelwright’s dressmaker’s dummy, or the death of Owen at the end of the novel—that echoes this figure (physically, symbolically, or otherwise)? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 2. Most of this book occurs in the fictional hamlet of Gravesend, New Hampshire. What do we learn about this town, its history and economy and populace, over the course of the novel? What makes Gravesend special? What sets it apart, according to those who live there? Examine the language that Irving uses to describe the town. How do these descriptions impact the mood and tone of the novel? What (in the view of our narrator, at least) are the town’s least attractive quali- ties? What are its chronic limitations? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4 3. Why does Johnny’s mother insist that Owen attend Gravesend Academy? And why is he so resistant to doing so? We learn “But no one on this earth was ever as stubborn as Owen Meany,” (tp 29, mm 27). So why does Owen change his mind on this matter? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 4. Why do Johnny and his mother change churches, moving from the Congregational to the Episcopal Church? That is, what is the reason given early in the novel—and what is the real reason, which is only revealed much later? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 5. Examine the development of the characters of John’s three cousins—Noah, Simon, and Hester. What were your impressions when you first encountered them? How did your impressions change over the course of the book, or did they not change at all? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 6. Near the end of “The Armadillo” chapter, the narrative of A Prayer For Owen Meany takes a sudden turn as we read: “To- day—January 30, 1987—it is snowing in Toronto . ” (tp 91, mm 87). What do learn of the present-day John (formerly Johnny) Wheelwright? Why is he now living and working in Canada? What does he do; what is his job? And why does he spend so much time ranting and raving about American culture, society, and politics—and also, for that matter, about American history? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 7. Explain the origin and purpose of Tabby Wheelwright’s red dress. What reason(s) does she give for possessing it, even though she claims to dislike it? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 8. What’s a “banshee”? What is the literal meaning of the term, per Irish folklore? And why does Owen utilize this term (tp 108, mm 105)? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.4c 9. Describe the minor character called Mrs. Hoyt. How does she fit into this novel? What does John remember about her? Why does she matter to the story? What becomes of her son? And what sort of influence does she have—politically, espe- cially—on John’s mindset? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 10. Why do so many people put their hands over their ears at the funeral of Tabby Wheelwright? And why, a bit later, does Aunt Martha lay in Uncle Alfred’s lap “like a little girl with an earache”? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 11. Explain the comedy—indeed, the irony—behind this remark of Owen’s, regarding the Christmas Pageant: “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM; FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.” (tp 537, mm 527) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6 12. Why does the dressmaker’s dummy that Tabby Wheelwright used to keep in her bedroom end up in Owen Meany’s bedroom? Whose idea was this, and what reasons for this move were given? CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 13.

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