a prayer for owen meany sparknotes literature guide john irving

Then John, our narrator, tells us more about his family.

When Watahantowet signed the deeds, he drew his totem, which was an armless man.

We learn that the original John Wheelwright acquired the land from a local sagamore (that is, a Native American chief) named Watahantowet.

Then we learn that the narrator was named after the town's founder – they are both named John Wheelwright.

Then the narrator launches into a description of his hometown of Gravesend, New Hampshire.

The narrator describes his grandmother, Harriet, who is way proper and hoity-toity.

The narrator tells us that he himself was a Wheelwright, and that his family came over on the Mayflower.

Whenever she came back, Owen would get in trouble. Stuff would fall out of his pockets, like his beloved baseball cards. Walker, the Sunday school teacher, would leave the room, the kids would start passing Owen around.

The most astounding characteristic about Owen is his voice – the narrator tells us that there must be something wrong with his vocal chords, because 'to be heard at all, Owen had to shout through his nose' (1.6).

The narrator reveals that Owen must have been born too soon. His skin is the 'color of a gravestone' (1.5) and so translucent that you can see his veins. His family is in the granite business, and he always seems to have granite dust all over him.

At Sunday school, the narrator and his classmates used to pick Owen Meany (the tiny, mom-killing, faith-giving guy) up off the ground and pass him around.

The narrator starts talking about his childhood.

When he dies, he wants to be buried in New Hampshire near his mom. We learn that the narrator has lived in Canada for twenty years and has converted to Anglicanism.The narrator begins by telling us he's 'doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice' (1.1) He paints a picture of this boy – he's tiny, he had something to do with the narrator's mother's death, but most importantly, he's the reason why the narrator believes in God.

A prayer for owen meany sparknotes literature guide john irving