In chapters 4 and 5 of A Prayer for Owen Meany, Owen is casted into two roles in the well-known, dramatic productions during the Christmas of 1953 in Gravesend. As Irving has previously established the connections between Owen and Jesus Christ, Owen casts himself as the Christ child, during the productions of the Christmas Pageant, which was no surprise for Irving’s readers. However, in A Christmas Carol, Owen Meany took on the role of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. By portraying these events, in the novel, Irving further establishes the unique fatalism that exists in Owen Meany and verifies Owen Meany as the symbol between man and God, the natural and supernatural. The casting of the specific roles for Owen is a significant event in the novel because Irving wants to point out that Owen has unique …show more content…
Like, when Jesus sees the vision of himself on the cross, Owen sees the vision of his name on the grave and with a date on it, and Owen becomes further symbolic to Jesus Christ. By seeing the vision of his name on the grave, Owen further proves himself to be part of a higher power because Irving foreshadows the death of Owen. By playing the “Ghost of the future” and the christ child, Irving depicts Owen with human-like and god-like qualities. The casting of the roles brought up the theme of predestination and unique fatalism that exists in Owen. While Owen is compassionate about his beliefs, after killing John’s mother and seeing the date and name on the grave, Owen simply believes he is God’s instrument and everything is predestined about his life. Owen becomes stubborn after this which leads to the first lie Owen ever told John because he is accepting of his beliefs. John, at first, did not believe Owen that he saw his name and the date of his death on the grave because John is skeptical about his faith, which made John doubtful about Owen’s