Use the Following Questions As a Guide to Prepare for Our Initial Socratic Seminar on A

A Prayer for Owen Meany Seminar

Use the following questions as a guide to prepare for our initial Socratic seminar on A Prayer for Owen Meany. Certain questions will be more important or relevant to our discussion, but all of these questions are worth considering. This is not so much a debate as a discussion.

As we look at Owen Meany, his relationship with God and Johnny Wheelwright, and the way he interacts with his world, questions of power and authority come up. For the purposes of your prep work for this seminar, assume power means “the ability to inspire or create change in someone or something through coercion or force” and authority means “the justification (through experience or legitimacy) to exercise power.” They are often linked but are separate entities. For instance, I have authority as your teacher because I have studied literature and language extensively and earned college degrees in this field; however, just because I know a lot about English does not immediately grant me power. So where does it come from?

Be ready to answer…

Questions of Power/Authority

What is Power? (In your own worldview)
What is Authority? (In your own worldview)
How are they different?
What are the sources of power for persons and institutions?
Why does a person (or institution) have power?
What are the limits (practical and ethical) of that power?
Why are there appropriate and inappropriate exercises of power?
What are the effects of power or authority on 1) the individual exercising the power, and 2) other persons?
How does power function as web of interrelationships (relationships between peers)?
What is the role of knowledge and voice in power? (Consider: Owen’s pre-knowledge of his death “THE DREAM” being an example… he knows what will come… how did that influence him? Others?)
When making choices (you, Owen, Johnny, anyone, really): “What do you hope you will get? What are you being asked to give up? Who is in it with you? Are they being asked to give up the same thing? How will you know if your sacrifice turns self-destructive?” (Stern, in Ayers 281). Consider what this quotation means and how it applies to the story.

Important Notes:

To make decisions and effect change, we need to understand the source of institutional power. The contract theory[1] (power is a go between two or more individuals consenting to be controlled or governed) is important because it is predicated on the existence and value of individual rights. At the same time, it explains how institutions derive their powers from the consent of individuals and it requires individuals to question and challenge institutional decisions (to ask why, to demand answers as Owen does). Not only does the contract theory honor individual rights and explain our form of government, but it also serves as a framework to understand how other institutions, such as schools, are established and limited. For instance, Johnny Wheelwright goes along with the contract passively, but Owen Meany questions and fights against it, secure in his belief in his individual rights given by his Creator.

Although the contract theory is useful in understanding institutions that we deliberately establish (like the government and school), the theory is less helpful when we consider power that is exercised by systems that develop less consciously, such as the power of the media or the power of peers (the social situation at Gravesend Academy, colleges, John’s life in Canada and his relationship to the news and Reagan). To deal with this type of power, the interrelationship theory[2] (everyone shares power interchangeably versus one person or one institution) is useful in explaining how individuals contribute to the development and perpetuation of systems of power by participating, challenging, and questioning those systems, even when the system develops less consciously than with a social “contract.”

Something else to think about…

Where does Authority come from in the story? Owen has it, but why? How? Just because he believes it? Because he is GOD'S INSTRUMENT? Says who? John answers that Owen gave him faith through the miracle of his life and death (the dream), but is this true or just John's interpretation? How to characters in the story exercise their power/authority?

How does the motif of amputation and armlessness affect it? If armlessness is symbolic of mutilation and loss of mobility/action, why does Irving include it?

These are the questions you will discuss. Remember to have prepared responses before the discussion. Without prep work, you cannot participate in the discussion although you will be required to listen actively and take notes. This discussion will help broaden your knowledge and thinking about the text as well as prepare you for potential essay questions.

[1] Contract Theory… Individuals cede a certain amount of their power to establish political power or sovereignty over the group

[2] Interrelationship Theory… power as a practice that establishes certain relationships, power is viewed as being held interchangeably among everyone in the system