Owen Meany as Christ
... In A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, the title character fills this role by symbolically characterizing Jesus Christ. A reader can interpret Owen Meany as Jesus because of his supposed virgin birth, various points of symbolism throughout the play and because of the foretelling the date and method of his own death. Owen Meany is shown to be the Second Coming of Christ throughout his entire life in the novel. The first key to realizing Owen represents Jesus is the method of his birth, as told by his mother and father. According to the Meanys, Owen was conceived biblically, with Owen as the baby Jesus and his mother the Virgin Mary. The so-called “virgin birth” is an event that effects Owen’s life from the day of his birth. When the Meanys tell everyone about the virgin birth, the people of town is in disbelief, and commit an “unspeakable outrage” against the Meany family.