59 pages • 1 hour read
John IrvingA Prayer for Owen Meany
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Finger”
After leaving Gravesend Academy, John takes a job with his uncle’s lumber company and lives with his family in Sawyer Depot. Owen moves into Hester’s apartment near Durham and works for his father’s granite company.
Adult John is invited to a colleague’s summer home on an island in Georgia Bay. Daily, he fights the urge to purchase a New York Times in order to follow American news; some days his urge wins. The lake reminds him of his days on Lovelace Lake with Noah and Simon in 1962. During that summer, John and Owen write letters to one another, and John admits that he misses Owen. In the fall of 1962, they enter the University of New Hampshire. The coursework is simple after Gravesend Academy and, for the first time, John excels. Owen becomes lax and makes only the minimum grades needed to maintain his scholarship. They befriend Hester’s friends but find themselves alone after they and Hester graduate. As the Cuban Missile crisis unfolds, Owen is certain it will end peacefully. In the summer of 1963, John works at the Meany granite company. He wants to join Owen in the quarry, but Owen insists John must begin in the monument shop.
That fall when JFK is assassinated, they are studying in John’s room; his grandmother summons them to the television. In the time that follows, Owen becomes quiet, making frequent visits to both Rev. Merrill and the priest at St. Michael’s, Father Findley. Owen has been working on replacing the Mary Magdalene statue, and in 1964, it is complete. Owen becomes less and less ambitious in his studies, though his fervor for perfecting the basketball shot remains. That summer, both he and John work in the quarry. Just as the summer is ending, Owen makes the shot in under three seconds.
John recalls his move to Canada in 1968 at the height of the war resistance. He has completed a master’s degree and has been teaching for one year. Hester, too, opposes the war and is arrested that year at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. John, however, is adamant that he is not a “draft dodger” (460) and feels that expatriates are misunderstood. He feels the need to defend himself despite his impression that Canadians are unconcerned with his reasons for emigrating. He sets out to assimilate into Canadian life and becomes an active member of the Anglican Church. By age 26, he has a teaching position at the all-girls school, Bishop Strachan.
It is in 1964 that the Vietnam conflict begins in earnest. John fears Owen taking part in combat, but Owen is eager for it. John accuses Owen of wanting to be a hero and tries to convince him that his intelligent mind would be wasted in active service. Still, Owen heads off to basic training. He fails the obstacle course when he proves too small to scale the wall, which means he will not be guaranteed his first choice of assignment. John enters graduate school, which secures his draft deferment for one more year. One night in Hester’s apartment, the three argue. Owen is adamant that it is not a matter of him wanting to go to Vietnam but knowing—according to his dream—that he will go. He believes this is what God wants him to do. Both John and Hester protest, trying to reason with him. Owen claims John’s lack of faith prevents him from understanding the seriousness of the dream. Owen adds that in the dream he saves Vietnamese children, then shows John the diary entry in which he has written down details about the dream. The night ends with Hester attacking Owen and John taking Owen to the hospital for stitches on his mouth.
Owen and John hope to take a trip the summer after graduation from university. They discuss where to go; Owen still wishes to visit Sawyer Depot, having never been there. Graduation comes and goes, and Owen receives his army assignment—it is, just as he has dreaded, a desk job. He and John head off on a trip along the coast, driving north toward Maine. They stop in Sawyer Depot for a few days, where Owen finally meets Hester’s parents, and they spend a few days at the boathouse with Simon. When they reach the Canadian border, they drive back home.
There is a small going-away party for Owen at John’s grandmother’s house as he prepares to leave for his post in Indiana. John moves into Hester’s apartment and begins graduate school. Owen writes letters to them both and continues to submit requests to be reassigned to a combat position. He has been delivering the bodies of those killed in action to their families.
In December, Owen has a 10-day leave. He and John spend most of that time practicing the shot. Owen stresses that John must come up with a plan to avoid being drafted. He’s also adamant that John needs to have courage. He returns to Indiana on New Year’s Eve, and he and John continue to exchange letters.
In the spring of 1967, John receives notice to report for his draft physical. He phones Owen, who instructs him not to report, explaining he will be there as soon as he is able to secure leave. A few weeks later, Owen arrives and asks John to meet him at the monument shop. There, Owen explains that he has just placed a new blade on the diamond wheel and has sterilized it with alcohol. John notices that Owen is equipped with bandages and understands that Owen intends to remove John’s index finger, as the lack of a trigger finger will prevent John from being sent into combat. Owen instructs John on how to position himself and where to look. Before Owen operates the machine, he reveals that John is also in his dream.
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Shot”
John explains that Hester goes on to be a folk singer and then a successful rock musician. She uses her career as a platform to continue to comment on the Vietnam conflict. Since Owen, she has never had a romantic relationship. John, too, is content to remain a bachelor.
In the present, John describes his visits to Dan, who now lives in Harriet Wheelwright’s house, every August and Christmas season. Dan repeatedly tries to convince John to move back. They reminisce about Harriet, recalling how difficult she became near the end of her life as dementia set in. She passed away at age 100 in a home for the elderly. When Dan insists that her homemade preserves are still in the secret passage pantry, John has to see for himself. For old time’s sake, Dan shuts the door, leaving John to fumble in the dark. It is then that John feels a hand holding him, keeping him from tripping and falling; he is certain that he hears Owen’s voice. On his visits, John sometimes meets with Rev. Merrill, who disagrees with John’s insistence that Owen’s dream came to fruition when he died.
John recalls protesting in Washington, DC, with Hester in the fall of 1967. Hester is angry that Owen did not cut off his own finger. The timeline shifts to 1968, when John meets with Owen’s parents to plan Owen’s funeral. They allow John to have any possessions of Owen’s that he wants. John searches for the baseball but does not find it. Mr. Meany confesses to doing the same thing. Mr. Meany then reveals to John that Owen, like the Christ child, was the result of a virgin birth. Mrs. Meany protests, attempting to silence her husband, but he insists upon revealing this detail to John. Then, he asks John to go with him to the monument shop. He shows John a headstone carved by Owen himself when he was on leave in December 1967. The headstone bears Owen’s correct date of death.
John later speaks with Rev. Merrill, who agrees that Owen felt he was chosen by God. They argue about God, faith, and miracles. Before John leaves, Rev. Merrill asks John to look inside his desk drawer. John insists that when the pastor speaks these words, Owen’s voice comes out of his mouth. In the drawer, John discovers the baseball that killed his mother; he knows instantly that Rev. Merrill is his father. Merrill explains that on the day of the baseball game when Tabby waved to him, he said a prayer that she would drop dead. John leaves Merrill as the pastor contemplates what he will say when he presides over Owen’s funeral. John takes the baseball, debating whether to reveal what he has learned to Dan. He asks Dan about their leaving the Congregational church for the Episcopalian church. It becomes clear that Tabby told each of them that the move was for the other’s benefit. Dan goes on to explain that John’s father required her to wait four years before marrying Dan; in exchange, he agreed never to reveal his identity to John. Dan confesses to knowing about “The Lady in Red” and even to attending Buster Freebody’s funeral with Tabby. John decides not to reveal to Dan what he has learned about Rev. Merrill.
That night, John drives to the Meanys’ home and asks for the dressmaker’s dummy. The arms of the Mary Magdalene statue are attached to it. He stands the dummy in the flowerbed at Hurd’s Church where Rev. Merrill is rehearsing for Owen’s funeral. Then, John throws the baseball through one of the stained-glass windows. Rev. Merrill runs outside, searching for John, but, seeing the dummy, begins crying and asking forgiveness of Tabby. Afterward, John throws the baseball, the dummy—still wearing the red dress—and the Mary Magdalene arms into the ocean.
John returns to Hester’s apartment to dress for Owen’s funeral. Before leaving, he reads some of Owen’s diary. Then he drives to Dan’s house, asking for the stone that Owen made for a wedding gift. Everyone who ever met Owen, it seems, is present at his funeral, except for Hester, who swore to Owen that she would not attend. A large ray of sunlight passes through the baseball-sized hole in the stained glass, illuminating Owen’s war medal. Rev. Merrill, in his eulogy, credits Owen Meany for his own faith. At the end of the service, members of the service present an American flag to Owen’s parents. After the burial, John is approached by a woman with children in tow. It is Mary Beth Baird, who played the Virgin Mary in the Christmas pageant the year that Owen played the Christ child. She recounts lifting Owen in Sunday School and how light he was. John is unable to utter any response.
It is immediately after Owen’s death that John moves to Canada. He admits to being disappointed that Rev. Merrill—such a dull and ordinary man—is his father. He notes that Mrs. Meany passed away not long after Owen. Accustomed to wrapping herself in the flag presented to the Meanys at Owen’s funeral, Mrs. Meany caught fire when seated too close to the fireplace one day. The Meany Granite Company eventually closed, and Mr. Meany became a meter reader for the electric company.
John recalls the Fourth of July holiday in 1968. That night, Owen phones him and asks him to fly to Phoenix, explaining that, because of a mix-up with a body of a soldier who was killed in action, he can obtain a few days’ vacation. John arrives in Phoenix and, upon exiting the airport, immediately sees the family of the deceased soldier waiting for Owen’s plane from California. Among them is the teenaged brother of the dead soldier, also dressed in Army fatigues and carrying a bayonet. An argument breaks out among the family, but it ends when Owen greets them. After the flag ceremony, an Army major explains to Owen and John what he knows of the troubled brother. John accompanies Owen to identify the body, then Owen must attend the “picnic wake” (607) being held by the soldier’s family.
There, Owen speaks to the soldier’s half-sister, who warns Owen that her mother will likely spit on him at the funeral the next day when Owen presents the flag to her. Owen responds by telling her that he is worried about her other brother—the teenager in fatigues—and requests to speak to him. The brother, Dick Jarvits, is once again dressed in fatigues and has painted his face black. He shows Owen, John, and Owen’s superior, Major Rawls, items that his late brother smuggled to him. These include hand grenades and an AK-47 that the soldier disassembled and shipped in pieces in separate shipments. Owen and Major Rawls caution Dick against bringing such weapons to an airport again.
The next morning, Rawls phones Owen, who is at a hotel with John, to tell him not to attend the funeral—the family does not want military present. Owen spends the morning writing in his diary instead, confused about whether he has misunderstood the dream: Perhaps it has been insignificant all along? John suggests they spend the day practicing the shot, but they cannot find a basketball court. Instead, they spend the day eating and drinking at the hotel pool.
The next day is July 8, 1968, the date Owen saw inscribed on Scrooge’s headstone. Major Rawls drives them to the airport. John is scheduled to fly back to Boston, and Owen will fly to Tucson. As they wait for John’s flight, Owen paces, wondering if he might not die on that day after all. A group of Catholic nuns in habits appear at a gate, welcoming a group of orphaned Vietnamese refugee children. One of the nuns asks Owen to accompany the boys to the men’s restroom. On their return, Dick Jarvits appears, carrying a grenade. Owen orders the children, in Vietnamese, to lie down, and they do. He then instructs John to catch the grenade and then pass it to him, explaining that this must be done in four seconds. John does so, lifting Owen up as Owen holds the grenade like he has held the basketball all those times before. Major Rawls pins Dick down, breaking his neck and killing him in the process. Owen raises the grenade above a window ledge as it detonates. The nuns and John immediately try to apply tourniquets to Owen, the grenade having removed both of his arms. Owen asks John if he understands, now, why Owen insisted that they complete the shot in three seconds and why Owen made them practice it so frequently. Owen dies from blood loss very soon after.
After Owen’s death, Major Rawls ensures that Owen is awarded a Soldier’s Medal for heroism. John mourns the loss of Owen and considers what he wishes he had said to Mary Beth Baird at Owen’s funeral. He then asks God to give Owen back.
Chapters 8-9 Analysis
The final section reveals the details of Owen’s death and affirms Owen’s insistence that he is destined to die on July 8, 1968. Before his death, however, he saves John’s life by removing John’s finger to ensure a draft deferment. In an ironic twist, the absent finger becomes a constant “presence” in John’s adult life, reminding him forever of Owen and of the sacrifice Owen made for John by ensuring that it was himself—not John or others around them—who was killed by the grenade blast. Until the final chapter, Irving leads the reader to believe that Owen will die in combat because this is how Owen believes he will die. In reality, he misinterprets the images appearing in his dream—Vietnamese children, a grenade explosion—and does not die in combat at all.
The novel’s structure and handling of time serve several functions. By this section, it is clear that Owen will die. In fact, adult John recounts details of Owen’s funeral out of chronological order, dwelling on the events after Owen’s death but refusing to recount the event itself. This serves dual purposes: Firstly, it underscores how difficult Owen’s death is for John to deal with. He desperately wishes it had never occurred and therefore dreads recounting its details. Secondly, the delay prolongs the reader’s impression that Owen will die in combat in Vietnam, paralleling the way in which Owen misreads the “clues” from his dream. Likewise, the title of Chapter 9, “The Shot,” suggests Owen will be killed by a gunshot. Indeed, this section contains moments that echo events of the past, such as John surveying the attendants at Owen’s funeral in a manner that is reminiscent of the ways he once scanned the audience at Dan’s plays in search of his father.
Owen’s assertion that God will reveal John’s father to him also comes to fruition. The ball’s presence in Rev. Merrill’s desk drawer—coupled with John’s certainty that it is Owen’s voice that bids him to open the drawer—cements for John that Rev. Merrill is his father. Though his lifelong desire to know his father’s identity is satisfied, it is bittersweet. John regards Rev. Merrill as weak and feebleminded and is disappointed that his father is not someone more interesting and powerful. As Owen had alluded, the knowledge of his father’s identity proves not as satisfying as John anticipated it would be. On the other hand, however, it solidifies Dan Needham’s role as John’s true father.
Rev. Merrill’s character arc reflects both aspects of the theme Religious Faith and Doubt. While his confession about his prayer that Tabby would “drop dead” removes the onus for her death from Owen and suggests that the pastor is the true instrument of God, Rev. Merrill loses his faith after her death. He regains his faith only after John tricks him into believing that Owen’s ghost is responsible for launching the baseball through the church window and placing the dressmaker’s dummy in the church yard. That is, Rev. Merrill accepts that Owen was indeed an instrument of God and this, then, is proof of God’s existence. For John, that Rev. Merrill no longer stutters is the evidence that he has regained his faith. In this sense, Rev. Merrill’s stutter serves as a foil for Owen’s voice, which—despite its unusual nature—has the power to move Rev. Merrill back to his faith.
John’s bitterness toward the United States because of the Vietnam conflict defines his adulthood. He is highly critical of Reagan and his actions and regards many Americans as complicit in present-day atrocities, just as they were once complicit in the atrocities that unfolded in Vietnam. He is frustrated by what he regards as their forgetting of history and their inability to learn from past mistakes. Often, John vows to stop reading American newspapers, as knowledge of American current events only anger him. Yet, keeping abreast of the news becomes a kind of vice to which John cannot help but succumb.
Many aspects of Owen’s personality that seem odd or charming at first take on greater significance as the novel draws to a close. When John must aid Owen in moving the grenade out of the way of the children, it becomes clear why Owen made him practice the basketball shot all those years. Similarly, John recalls how initially, their passing Owen around above their heads when they were children was a game. However, upon Owen’s death, his small size becomes fortuitous, rather than merely charming. In this way, then, John comes to accept that Owen was correct when he believed himself to be uniquely chosen by God as an instrument to save the lives of others.
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