Amputations are Symbols of LoveAn Essay on A Prayer for Owen Meany
... In A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving uses the symbols of amputation and lack of arms to show that love is the most important thing that anyone can have. ... Owen’s love for Johnny could be shown in chapter 8, when Owen cuts off Johnny’s finger. Owen believed that he was going to go to Vietnam, and that Johnny was going to be with him. Owen loves Johnny so much that he does not want him to be sent to war. Just before Owen lowers the saw he says to Johnny, “I LOVE YOU… JUST THINK OF THIS AS MY LITTLE GIFT TO YOU.”(508-509) Owen has a sincere concern for Johnny: he doesn’t want Johnny to have to go through the same thing that he knows he is going to have to. Owen also shows a strong affection for Tabitha, Johnny’s mother. After Owen accidentally kills Tabitha with the baseball, he takes the armless dressmaker’s dummy as a memento to remember her by.