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Symbolism In A Prayer For Owen Meany

1103 Words5 Pages

When I was younger, I kept a diary and wrote in it every day. Within that diary, I would write down the events that would take course within my day, including how I felt. My diary contained all my secrets and thoughts and ultimately it was a form of expression for me. This is true for most of the people who have a diary or journal themselves. Since a diary is a way for people to let out all their thoughts and feelings instead of holding them in. In A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, the author uses Owen Meany’s diary throughout the book as a symbol to help people better understand the supernatural and religious side of Owen.

A diary is an object that is used to write one’s thoughts and feelings. In a diary entry that Owen wrote on New …show more content…

Owen kept a lot of his thoughts and insights to himself, which would ultimately effect his best friend, John. After Owen had a dream of him dying and lied about how he didn’t know that date it caused made John “wanted to cry...because it was the first time he had lied to me…” (Irving 259). Although Owen would share his opinions through writing as The Voice, he will keep certain secrets to himself. He kept the secrets to himself in the sense that he didn’t want to worry the people close to him. But, Owen’s diary was an escape for him and allowed him to express his thoughts and help the readers understand him more. Furthermore, after John read Owen’s entry that revealed that Owen knew his death date it made John think that “[he] could of have better understood why [Owen] behaved as he did” (Irving 372). The revelation that Owen knew his own death date could explain why both John and the readers witnessed him become more rebellious by smoking. For example, Owen knew that he wasn’t going to die through smoking and that caused him to do it frequently. The diary contained will allow someone who reads his entries it connect the dots on why Owen acted the way he did. A diary can reveal a lot about a person and it can explain to people why someone acted the way they

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