Owen Meany

Kera Pezzuti Period 8 2/23/09 Politics and Morality John F. Kennedy once said, “Mothers may still want their favorite sons to grow up to be president, but. . .they do not want them to become politicians in the process.” Through these words, Kennedy declares that politicians are not the type of people who are looked highly upon. In Owen Meany by John Irving, this theme of unlikable and unrespected politicians is greatly enforced. Throughout the novel, John Wheelwright, the narrator, expresses his immense distaste for American politics and their version of morality. In a passage devoted to political affairs and its ethics, Wheelwright declares that politicians can do anything regarding warfare, but are prohibited from cheating on their wives. Through the rhetorical question that opens the passage, Wheelwright gets readers to reflect upon their own feelings of morality. By presenting an extremely critical and ironic tone throughout the passage, Wheelwright convinces readers that Americans have a twisted view of morality. Through the meanings of certain words, Wheelwright implies denotations towards politicians. Due to his word usage, Wheelwright implies to readers that politicians are not the heroes some consider them to be. Through a simple question, Wheelwright forces the readers to look upon their own ethics and morals. Wheelwright asks, “What do Americans know about morality?” He follows this with examples of political events that most Americans do not appear to care about, and then some kind of sexual affair that arouses the interest of the country. After this statement, readers realize that this is, in fact, the trend of American society. In political elections, Americans appear to concern more about a politician’s social life than their actual political views. Instead of Americans basing their opinion upon previous

leadership and morals, they judge politicians upon their sex lives and social affairs. From a simple question, Wheelwright sets the tone of the entire passage and creates a sense of realization for the reader. During his every statement throughout the passage, Wheelwright adopts an immensely ironic tone. He states, “[Americans] don’t want their presidents to have penises but they don’t mind if their presidents covertly arrange to support the Nicaraguan rebel forces. . .” While this is a bit of an exaggeration, the narrator declares that, today, people are confused over what is important and what is irrelevant. One would assume that people think the dealings of a president in the government setting are more important than those in the bedroom. According to Wheelwright, though, Americans cannot distinguish between characteristics that are truly vital to the running of a nation and those that simply make an esteemed figure un-respected. Wheelwright voices during this excerpt that politicians can get away with deceiving Congress, but Americans truly care if a politician deceives his wife. They base their views and opinions upon, not their political doings, but a politician’s social nature. Through his tone and cruel yet justified statements, Wheelwright shows readers that most interpret morality in an improper way. The word politics can be broken into two Latin roots, poli and tics which combine to translate into “many blood-sucking creatures”. Readers can infer, from a description like this, that politicians are not the high-esteemed people they appear to be, but hypocritical and insincere. Wheelwright supports this view of politics by discussing the controversial judgment system of Americans towards politicians. While these bloodsucking creatures cannot deceive their wives without drastic consequence, they can lie and cheat their subjects with less serious repercussions. The narrator supports this double-

meaning to its complete potential as he questions the morality of Americans and their superiors. Throughout the course of A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, commentary is made upon the judgment of Americans. In one particular passage, Wheelwright displays his feelings toward the morality of America through rhetorical questions, tone, and word meaning. He opens the passage with a question that forces readers to truly think about what their own values are based upon. During the rest of the excerpt, Wheelwright adopts a very ironic and sarcastic tone that convinces readers that Americans cannot differentiate between important and insignificant affairs. The word politics is also known to mean “many blood-sucking creatures”, a characteristic and implication that Wheelwright uses to its full extent. Through Wheelwright’s tone and word usage, he convinces readers that morality has become an immensely gray area and forces them to think about their own values. He directs this view towards politicians and those that judge them and says that these men and women are not as great or honest as they appear to be.