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An Instrument Of God “There are no accidents in life. If something were thrown off course or disrupted, it would find a way to occur anyway.” Philosopher, Michelle Harowith. Certain individuals believe that there is always the presence of fate in every aspect of life; every action and decision has a divine purpose, and is all precisely intertwined . They have no doubt they are instruments of God and every part of their life has already been drawn out. They know from the time they are born that they will follow the path that God has chosen for them. This idea is explored in the novel A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving. The main character, Owen Meany, is illustrated as an instrument of God throughout the novel. This is demonstrated through the tasks that Owen is chosen to perform. Owen acts as the angel of death, is given signs from God about the date of his death, and has reoccurring dreams about his purpose in life; to save the children from Vietnam. The first incident in Owen’s life that shows he is an instrument of God is when he believes he is assigned the task as the angel of death. Owen and John are inseparable friends and have a sleep over almost every night. Owen is not close with his parents and looks at John’s mother as his own. She is the only person in Owen’s life who gives him any guidance and support. (Irving, p. 100) One night when Owen sleeps over at John’s house he wakes up in the middle of the night with a fever. Making his way to John’s mother’s room, he is frightened by a figure beside her bed. He believes the figure is the black angel of death and is about to take John’s mother’s life. Since he interrupt’s the angel of death, at her task she reassigns the task to him. “There’s an angel in your mother’s room. I interrupted it and she reassigned the task to me. She was about to take your mother’s life and now I am fated to do so.” (Irving, p. 102) John did not believe Owen about the angel and felt it was absurd that Owen thought he was going to take John’s mother’s life. Owen told John it was only a matter of time before it happened. The two friends played on a local city baseball team in which Owen was smaller than all the other kids and could never able to hit the ball well. The first game of the season was off to a slow start and their team was considerably behind.
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