Granny and the Tube
The narrator’s grandmother is a huge fan of reading. Less popular, but still within the reach of reason is her acceptance of the radio as entertainment. Her view toward television is steeped in irony, however. Not only her reasons for hating it, but because once she actually watches it for the first time, she becomes addicted:
“But she drew the line at television. It took no effort to watch—it was infinitely more beneficial to the soul, and to the intelligence, to read or to listen—and what she imagined there was to watch on TV appalled her; she had, of course, only read about it.”
The Opposite of Batman
Owen Meany is a portrait of the positive power of faith that cannot be shaken by doubt. This righteous belief is the very thing which gives him strength and informs his ability to convince others of his strength. In this light, he is not unlike Batman and also in this light, Rev. Merrill—with whom Owen vehemently disagrees—can be considered the opposite of Batman. His religious belief is actually based upon a foundation of irony:
“Mr. Merrill was most appealing because he reassured us that doubt was the essence of faith, not faith’s opposite.”
Wedding and Funerals
Owen and his father are the only people who attend the wedding of the narrator’s mother dressed in dark suits. So much do they stand out from the festive coloring around them that one of his friends remarks, “You look like you’re at a funeral, Owen.” The irony here, of course, is that very shortly afterward, Owen will be responsible for the new bride’s funeral when he becomes responsible for her accidental death.
Rev. Merrill’s Miracle
The irony of his faith based upon doubt hounds Rev. Merrill throughout the narrative. As a firm believer in the power of doubt, Merrill consistently posits that miracles are absolutely not necessarily for developing faith because proof is inconsistent with faith. Nevertheless, he will come to restore much of his lost faith as the result of a miracle. Adding an addition layer of irony to this turn of events is that the miracle which he says is unnecessary, but which nevertheless has a profound impact upon him is not a miracle at all, but a fake manufactured for him as a miracle by the narrator.
Owen’s Prophecy
Owen’s faith is absolutely unshakeable, and that strength even gives him a vision of Batman-esque heroism. Following the logic of his faith, he pursues a prophecy of the future as if it were written in stone and winds up in Vietnam during the war. The prophecy is that he will save lots of obviously Vietnamese children. The prophecy actually does come to pass and Owen dies heroically, but ironically: he does saves the Vietnamese children and he does save them because he is a soldier, but his act of heroism occurs not in Vietnam, but at an airport in Phoenix.
