A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Essay Example for Free

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Essay A popular theme in literature concerns the concept of growing up, a painful process by which a character achieves maturity, self-knowledge and confidence. In the novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, the character of Owen Meany achieves this painful process. Owen Meany is introduced in the novel as a remarkable individual and throughout it can be observed how the brilliant child evolves into the memorable individual that he turns into. In the novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, Owen Meany matures, gains self-knowledge and confidence to become the miracle that his character was. Owen Meany was obviously a brilliant child, but was still able to improve on his excellent character as he was growing. This can be seen through Owens maturity level. He was always remarkable advanced and mature for his age, but as he became older, he understood even more than before. His best friend was Johnny Wheelwright. In their friendship, Owen looked after Johnny. He gave him advice and even helped him out academically. When Johnny was bitter about his mother not revealing to him who his father was before she died, Owen came up with a mature response, Of course, as Owen pointed out to me, I was only eleven when she died, and my mother was only thirty; she probably thought she had a lot of time left to tell me the story. She didnt know she was going to die, as Owen Meany put it. (Irving 10) In the face of irrationality, Owen found it easy to point out the logic. The easy way he comes up with intelligent responses to difficult questions are proof of this childs brilliance. Later on his life, the reader sees that Owen has matured in regards to his perspective on Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had been somewhat of a hero in Owens mind and he had felt betrayed by him. He is able to later recover from this viewpoint and analyze the situation differently. Shes just like our whole country not quite young anymore. But not old either; a little breathless, very beautiful, maybe a little stupid, maybe a lot more smarter than she seemed. And she was looking for something I think she wanted to be good. Look at the men in her life Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, maybe the Kennedys. Look at how good they seem! Look at how desirable she was! She was never quite happy She was just like our whole country Those famous powerful men did they really love her? Did they take care of her? If she was ever with the Kennedys, they couldnt have loved her they were just using her . People will do and say anything just to get the power; then theyll use the power just to get a thrill . The country is a sucker for powerful men who look good, we think theyre moralists and then they just use us. Thats whats going to happen to you and me were going to be used. (Irving 431) Owen Meany is very good at analysis, and he uses these talents to make conclusions on many things. It is an excellent example of his maturity. When Owen first discovered that JFK might be having an affair with Marilyn Monroe, he was shocked. Now, he is able to rationalize it and see JFK in a different light. He is able to come up with educated ideas concerning JFK and Marilyn Monroe. His metaphor of Marilyn Monroe and the United States is an excellent one. Both Marilyn Monroe and America have a great deal in common because of their mutual exploitation by the rich and powerful. Owen Meany learns a great deal about himself through the course of his life. He is convinced that there are reasons for all things. One of his strongest conviction stems from what his parents told him about him being born in the same way as Jesus. Due to this, Owen feels very convinced and assured of himself. He is a highly intelligent child: I know three things. I know that my voice doesnt change, and I know when Im going to die. I wish I knew why my voice never changes, I wish I knew how I was going to die; But God has allowed me to know more than most people know so Im not complaining. The third thing I know is that I am Gods instrument; I have faith that God will let me know what Im supposed to do, and when Im supposed to do it. (Irving 366) Owen has complete faith that there are reasons for his being the way he is. This is an example of Owens self-knowledge. He knew these things with a complete certainty and accepted them. Few people will have blind faith in something. Owen had questions, but he still put his faith in God, bowing to his superiority. He knows who he is. He understands his purpose. He is told by many that he is crazy and insane for thinking that there is a plan for why he has the voice he has. He is also told that he should run far away from what he thinks his destiny is, but Owen is not most people. He knows what his destiny is and runs towards it. Owens self-awareness and knowledge is what allows him to feel that he is headed towards the right path. In the end, Owen was right. He is able to save the Vietnamese children, It was not only because he spoke their language; it was his voice that compelled the children to listen to him it was a voice like their voices. That was why they trusted him, why they listened. DOONG SA, he said, and they stopped crying. (Irving 612) In the end, Owen is to be admired for his self-knowledge. Johnny would now be wrong in thinking Owen to be strange for thinking that his odd voice had a purpose. It did have a purpose. Owens voice helped him save the Vietnamese children. Owen Meany has a great deal of confidence in himself. If he sets his mind to do something, he can do anything. Owen Meany desperately wanted to join the army and be able to fight so that he could fulfill his purpose that he discovered in his dream. If theres a war and Im in the army, I want to be in the war I dont want to spend the war at a desk. Look at it this way: we agree that Harry Hoyt is an idiot. Whos going to keep the Harry Hoyts from getting their heads blown off? (Irving 462) The way that Owen ended the statement, almost makes him sound cocky. In a way, he is, but another term to describe it would be that Owen is confident. He places total trust in God that what will happen will happen. He is confident that he is going to die, fulfill his purpose in life and be a hero. It is uncanny how unshakable Owens faith is. Most people are unable to practice what they preach, and Owen does what he thinks is right. He does live by his rules. It is unbelievable that he is willing to throw away his life because of his faith in God. He does not even have any proof of assurance that God does exist, but in his mind he does not need any. When Owen would be practicing his basketball shot with Johnny and it would get dark, he would ask Johnny if he could still see a statue of Mary Magdalene after it became completely dark. He would ask Johnny how he could be certain that she was still there, if he could not see her, You absolutely know she isnt there even though you cant see her? Well, now you know how I feel about God I cant see Him but I absolutely know he is there! (Irving 451) Owen explains to Johnny that he just knows in his gut and instinctively that God exists. In the same way that people can understand and accept that other things exist without physical proof, Owen is convinced of the existence of God. His confidence is daunting. It is unusual for a person to be so rationally convinced about theology and at the same time be willing to go to extremes in the name of God. When he was getting closer to the day of his death, he had doubts, I dont know why hes here I just know he has to be here! But I dont even know that not anymore. It doesnt make sense! Where is Vietnam in all of this? Where are those poor children? Was it all just a terrible dream? Am I simply crazy? Is tomorrow just another day? (Irving 604) Owen is growing up. He is scared and confused. He doesnt know why Johnny has to be there for his dream to come true. He doesnt know if anything is going to happen. His doubts are the most important step to his growing up. In the end, he was right all along. The character, Owen Meany, was a miraculous one, due to his maturity, self-knowledge and confidence, in the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Owen was always mature for his age, but he was able to improve on it and make better judgements. He understood that although Kennedy was someone who had been a hero to him, that things are not always as you want them to be. He was able to open his mind to this, and eventually accept the possibility that Kennedy might have behaved inappropriately. Owen had an extreme amount of assurance in himself. He just knew some things and did not feel the need to question them too much. He knew that there was a reason for his voice and although, he wanted to know why, he did not feel daunted by this. He had faith in his ability to do things, even some that he did not manage to do, such as, going to war. Owens confidence is the last important point in his path to growing up. He had doubts and fear, but in the end his confidence in God and himself won out. Owen finally grew up, when he did what he was meant to do by God.

American Public Policy in the Fifties: The Development of Dilemmas Ess

American Public Policy in the Fifties: The Development of Dilemmas During the 1950s, Eisenhower simultaneously developed public policy through control of military commitments abroad; for the individual, the ironic combination of consumer freedom, repressive social structures, and civil rights expansion; a protectionist stance on the economy coupled with a cautionary rejection of increased domestic spending; and the suffocation of political dissent with the blanket of patriotism. The 1950s serves as a point of restrictive reference, justifying its significance for past and future public policy. Irreversibly changing American foreign policy between 1948 and 1951, the American government escalated its size, scale, and scope abroad, building friendships but also making enemies, intending to defeat the spread of Stalinist Communism across Eastern Europe and Asia and defending democratized freedom and prosperity. Out of the World War II economic boom at home, the United States supplemented the struggling financial structure of postwar Europe with the 1948 Marshall Plan. In addition, United States policy introduced the American military as an international police power, sponsoring militarization in â€Å"forty-seven nations and led American forces to build or occupy 675 overseas bases and station and station a million troops overseas† (Johnson 443). President Harry S. Truman escorted the United States into the 1950s by involving them in the Korean War. Wishing to commit military forces, he bypassed the United Nations Security Council and the approval of Congress to eng age in the conflict between North and South Korea. Elected on a peace platform in 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower ended the Korean War by â€Å"breaking the armistice deadl... ... for society inevitably adjusts; what solutions seemed to last, for all great visions eventually fade; and what worked once, for it may never work again. Works Cited Ehrenhalt, Alan. â€Å"Learning from the Fifties.† The Wilson Quarterly. Summer, 1995. Hoffer, Eric. Harper Perennial, 1951. Johnson, Paul. Modern Times. Harper Collins, 1991. Johnson, Paul. â€Å"U.N. Get Out of New York!† Forbes.com. 2 February 2004. 3 March 2004 http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0202/029_print.html. Murray, Charles. â€Å"Losing Ground.† Basic, 1984. Siegel, Fred. The Future Once Happened Here. Free Press, 1997. Sowell, Thomas. â€Å"The Vision of the Anointed.† Basic, 1995. U.S. Department of Defense, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America. September 2002. U.S. Department of Defense, Quadrennial Defense Review. September 30, 2001.

Development Planning and Analysis

From the modernization theory up to the present trend about sustainable development and climate change, development planning is a major issue since this dictates the direction in which development will take place. For instance, Earth summit’s Agenda 21 aims to alleviate â€Å"worsening poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being. † The corruption or purity of development will then pave the way for the possibility of addressing severe social dilemmas. The manner by which development is directed is necessary for the rise or fall or every country.The importance of development planning is even magnified by the Millennium Development Goals which seek to address social dilemmas that paralyzes countries, especially the third world (. In development planning, several aspects must be put into consideration. For one, the demography of a particular setting should be viewed as a profile that wi ll tell the state of development the place has already attained. Demography includes the socio-economic profile that can tell if people satisfy their most basic needs. Women, on the other hand, are another important factor because of the historically-traced experience in repression.Since 51% of the population is composed of women, they must be seriously put into delicate consideration. They have long experienced struggles, and the status by which they have achieved a degree of equality and freedom from repression indicates development and will then become the starting point of several other development plans. Poverty, on the other hand, is another issue. Poverty or the statuses by which people cannot satisfy their needs should be considered in development planning because only through poverty alleviation will countries attain development.These issues are even intensified by the issue of pollution because this dilemma leads to environmental degradation. Since most third world countri es are in the tropics, they depend largely on the environment. Failure to come up with plans that will conserve and preserve the environment translates to inefficiency of development plans being imposed. These issues are heightened by the current trend known as climate change. Everything now from the social sphere to the political ecology becomes a vicious cycle that has to be addressed by long-term and holistic plans to combat even the worst case scenarios.Water purity and availability, occupational health and safety, child welfare, and public health are also important considerations that have to be solved. If one partition of the mentioned considerations is not solved, or is not prioritized, development planning has not become true to its integrity. As many tag the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), they are the growing force in the development arena since they carry on the interest of marginalized sectors in the society. The projects that have not been carried out by the govern ment are compensated by the activities performed by the NGOs.The language of everyday politics might suggest that they are part of the dynamism of politics; however, other sectors might label them as the heroes that save lives in the absence of the government arm that supposedly helps the impoverished. More so, the multilaterals are involved in development planning. They swathe every development subject, from granting â€Å"financial aid to technical assistance to pushing for democracy. † The role of government and state institutions in development planning is truly essential because they are constitutionally tasked to provide the needs of the people in their respective territories.The state, which is the primary instrument for development, should always be in the service of the citizenry. Many may question the credibility of these institutions, but their role is truly crucial in the developmental aspect. Development is then measured through the assessment if the state is abl e to provide the needs of the people and if the development considerations are prioritized. The question, furthermore, if the business community is a problem or a solution is subjective because it will only be decided depending on the roles they portray.However, the present trend about Corporate Social Responsibility acts as the charitable arm of the government to reach out to the people who are not as affluent as the business sector. In Asia, CSR is really trending and even the capitalists hang on to this to escape criticism of them being over-profiteering. Development planning is not an easy task. To address this, stakeholder’s analyses are conducted. This will help in identifying sectoral needs and interests that vary within communities.The conclusions that will be derived in the stakeholder’s analyses will be beneficial in formulating objectives for development planning. The five entry points for social impact analysis, based on the lecture at City University of Ho ng Kong, are as follows: Social diversity and gender, Institutions, rules and behaviour, Stakeholders, Participation, and Social risk. The mentioned entry points provide for the framework essential in development planning. The social analysis and project design plus the logframe analysis can also be used. Social analyses may be organic but it will help thoroughly in development planning.Development planning in labor rights, democracy and national development are the future because these are the trends that have to be followed and assessed. If these were achieved, even the third world countries will have their own comparative advantages. REFERENCES Lecture notes in Development Planning and Analysis. (2010). City University of Hong Kong. Lecture notes in Social Equity Issues in Social Forestry. (2010). University of the Philippines Los Banos. Lecture notes in Reimagining Philippine Politics. (2007). University of the Philippines Los Banos.

The United States Government Political Behavior - 939 Words

What is the United States Government political behavior? In the United States there are two major government parties. The Republican and the Democratic parties. Both parties started with the right to ratify the constitution. The parties both started as the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists. The Democrats which were led by Thomas Jefferson were known as the Democratic Republicans. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828, In the history of the Presidential Elections of the U.S. fifteen presidents have held office being Democrats. The Republican party on the other hand which was founded by Alexander Hamilton was formed in 1854, having 18 presidents held office as Republicans. The major parties are organized†¦show more content†¦The most common campaign strategies are strategic planning, time management, political communication, and economic management. Here in the U.S. we have different voting options, for example we have open and closed primaries. The difference between the two are that in an open primary any one eligible to vote may do so without having any party affiliation. Whereas in a closed primary only eligible voters with a party affiliation may vote. A political race is funded by a PAC or a Political Action Committee. PAC’s are formed from interest groups to raise money for a political party or candidate. There are many different types of groups for example, Economic Interest Groups, Business Groups, Trade Associations, and also groups that promote causes and welfare. They influence much of the political campaign because the more money they provide a candidate with the more chances of them getting elected. There has been many speculations over these PAC’s, therefore the government has put in place various laws to prohibit any unfairness in a political campaign. One of these methods is the Federal Election Commission which inhibits the amount of money which could be given to a candidate running for office. As citizens of the United States we are given many rights. For example the right to vote. Some of the current basic U.S. voter requirements are that you must be eighteen, and a U.S. citizen. At the