Because of the immense faith he had in God and the tools that God had given him, he was able to change the lives of many other people in his own short life. An example of this was is his [Owen's] voice. Many times throughout his life, Owen Meany was ridiculed for his ridiculously high, unnatural, and irritating voice. Everyone he met tried to convince him to change it by having surgery performed or by some other type of treatment. Johnny's mother, who Owen adored, even gave Owen the address of a voice teacher who, when visited by Owen, said that his voice was indeed fixable. But instead of having surgery performed to be more like a "normal" person, Owen chose to keep his unique voice. His reasoning: "God gave me my voice for a reason." Owen thought that God did everything for a reason, that nothing was a coincidence. And indeed it seems that God did give Owen his voice for a very specific reason. In the last pages of the book, the only way Owen was able to save the Vietnamese children, as prophesized in his dream, was by catching a grenade and getting their attention with his unreal voice. " "DOONG SA," Owen Meany told them. "DON"T BE AFRAID," It was not only because he spoke their language: it was a voice like their voices." (pg 538) With that voice Owen was able to save those nine Vietnamese children, even though they were scared to see an American Soldier in battle fatigues. .
Both the play "Oedipus Rex and the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany have main characters who realize the importance of religion and faith. Their faith and religious beliefs were very different as "Oedipus Rex" is set in Rome in a time period where people believed in many gods, while Owen Meany believed in just one God. Despite their different cultures and living in different time periods, Owen and Oedipus were dramatically impacted by their religious beliefs. In 430 B.C., when the play took place, the way to communicate to the gods was through the oracles.
