A Prayer for Owen Meany Allusions & Cultural References

Biblical and Religious References

• The Bible (1.1, 3.150.)
• The Book of Common Prayer (1.1)
• Jeremiah 1:5 (2.454)
• The Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians (2.458)
• John Calvin, French theologian (3.66)
• "Crown Him with Many Crowns" (3.235, 9.378)
• Psalm 37 (3.335, 9.256)
• St. Joseph (4.16)
• The Virgin Mary (4.16)
• Luke 23:34 (4.23)
• Mary Magdalene (6.83)
• Judas Iscariot (6.143)
• Pontius Pilate (6.143)
• St. Peter (6.143)
• The Gospel According to Matthew (6.145)
• Isaiah 5:20 (7.437)
• C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (9.323)
• John 11:25 (9.330)
• The Gospel According to Mark (9.368)
• The Burial of the Dead, Rite II (9.584)

Literary and Philosophical References

• W. Somerset Maugham, The Constant Wife (3.99)
• Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (4.9)
• William Shakespeare, King Lear (4.244, 5.278)
• Charles Dickens (4.252)
• Dracula , a film based on the novel by Bram Stoker (5.14)
• Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (5.284, 9.85)
• Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (5.284)
• Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (5.284)
• William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (6.177, 8.610)
• Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (6.299)
• Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (6.310)
• Jack Kerouac (6.314)
• Allen Ginsberg (6.314)
• Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory (6.314)
• James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (6.314)
• Pär Lagerkvist, Barabbas (6.314)
• Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (6.314)
• Jean-Paul Sartre (6.314)
• Albert Camus (6.314)
• Søren Kierkegaard (6.314)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (6.395)
• Robert Frost, "Nothing Gold can Stay" (6.427)
• Robert Frost, " Fire and Ice " (6.427)
• Robert Frost, " Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening " (6.427)
• Robert Frost, " Birches " (6.427)
• Robert Frost, "The Gift Outright" (6.473)
• Arthur Miller, playwright (8.107)
• Lawrence Durell, The Alexandria Quartet
• Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, playwright, and journalist (8.270)
• Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and social critic (8.563)
• Ford Madox Ford, Parade's End (8.604)
• Thomas Hardy, "Hap" (8.739)
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, " Rime of the Ancient Mariner " (9.73)
• Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (9.74)
• Euripides, Classical Greek tragedian (9.77)
• Euripides, The Medea (9.77)
• Euripides, The Trojan Women (9.77)
• Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (9.87)
• William Shakespeare, Hamlet (9.90)
• Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (9.90)
• Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (9.114)
• Margaret Atwood, Surfacing (9.117)
• Günter Grass, Cat and Mouse (9.117)
• Alice Munro (9.119)
• Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost (9.130)
• Robertson Davies, Fifth Business (9.130)
• George Orwell, Burmese Days (9.133)
• George Orwell, Animal Farm (9.133)
• George Orwell, 1984 (9.133)
• Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice (9.154)
• Selections from the Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas (9.162)
• Robertson Davies, "The Ghost Who Vanished By Degrees" (9.258)
• Timothy Findley, Famous Last Words (9.262)
• Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge (9.262)
• Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers (9.264)
• Alice Munro, "The Moons of Jupiter" (9.268)

Musical References

• Frederic Chopin (6.22)
• Claude Debussy (6.22)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (6.22)
• Johannes Brahms, "O Welt ich muss dich lassen" (6.142)
• Frederic Handel, Messiah (9.352)

Historical References

• John Wheelwright, Founder of Exeter, New Hampshire (1.26)
• John Adams, second President of the United States (1.26)
• George Meany, American labor leader (1.27)
• Oliver Cromwell, English military and political leader (1.30)
• Anne Hutchinson (1.31)
• John Smith (1.43)
• Pocahontas (1.43)
• Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (2.478, 6.423, 7.201)
• John F. Kennedy (a.k.a. JFK), 35th President of the United States (2.480, 6.469, 7.269)
• Ngo Dinh Diem, first President of South Vietnam (2.485)
• Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother of and chief political advisor to Ngo Dinh Diem (2.485)
• Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., American politician and former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam (2.487)
• Lyndon B. Johnson (a.k.a. LBJ), 35th President of the United States (2.490)
• General William Childs Westmoreland, commander in the Vietnam War (2.500, 7.446)
• Robert F. Kennedy (also referred to as "RFK" and "Bobby"), civil rights activist, Senator from New York, Presidential candidate, and younger brother of JFK (2.505, 7.286, 8.175-176)
• Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (2.505, 5.202)
• Lt. William Laws Calley, convicted American war criminal (2.506)
• Abbie Hoffman, co-founder of the Youth International Party (2.507)
• Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States (5.205)
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (6.10)
• Gary Hart, former Senator from Colorado and U.S. Presidential candidate (6.423)
• King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (6.436)
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (7.200)
• General Chiang Kai-shek (7.200)
• Nancy Reagan, former First Lady of the United States (7.257)
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Former First Lady of the United States (7.295, 8.175)
• Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense (7.307)
• Oliver North, U.S. Marine Corps Officer (7.446)
• Melvin Laird, former Secretary of Defense (7.446)
• General Creighton Abrams, former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army (7.446)
• General Maxwell Taylor (7.446)
• General Curtis LeMay (7.446)
• Ellsworth Bunker, former U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam (7.446)
• Barry Goldwater, former U.S. Senator from Arizona and Presidential candidate (8.261)
• Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (8.261)
• Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (8.261)
• Alexei Kosygin, former Soviet statesman (8.261)
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada (8.292)
• Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (8.609)
• William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (8.609)
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (9.154)
• Senator Joseph McCarthy (9.205)
• Hubert Humphrey (9.205)

Pop Culture References

• Angel Street (3.25)
• Gaslight (3.25)
• Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (3.25)
• Charles Boyer, French actor (3.25)
• Angela Lansbury, English actress (3.29)
• Joseph Cotten, American actor (3.30)
• Frank Sinatra, singer (6.4)
• Tommy Dorsey, American jazz bandleader (6.4)
• Frank Sinatra, "I'll be Seeing You" (6.4)
• Frank Sinatra, ""Fools Rush In" (6.4)
• Frank Sinatra, "I Haven't Time to Be a Millionaire" (6.4)
• Frank Sinatra, "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" (6.4)
• Frank Sinatra, "All This and Heaven, Too" (6.4)
• Frank Sinatra, "Do You Keep Your Heart?" (6.5)
• Frank Sinatra, "Trade Winds" (6.5)
• Frank Sinatra, "The Call of the Canyon" (6.5)
• Frank Sinatra, "Too Romantic" (6.5)
• Tarzan (6.12-13)
• Liberace, American entertainer and pianist (6.23)
• Boy George (6.25)
• Elton John (6.25)
• "Mack the Knife" (6.25)
• Appointment with Danger, a 1951 film (6.50)
• Jack Webb, an American actor (6.52)
• Dragnet, a 1950s TV crime drama (6.52)
• Captain Blood, a 1935 film (6.71)
• Errol Flynn, an Australian-American actor (6.71)
• Olivia de Havilland, American actress (6.71)
• It Happens Every Spring, a 1949 film (6.73)
• Treasure of the Golden Condor, a 1953 film (6.79)
• Cornel Wilde, Actor (6.79)
• Drum Beat, a 1954 Film (6.79)
• Alan Ladd, American actor (6.79)
• Audrey Dalton, actress (6.79)
• The Robe, a 1953 film (6.80)
• Jean Simmons, an English actress (6.80)
• Richard Burton, an English actor (6.81)
• Cecil B. DeMille, legendary American film director (6.93)
• The Ten Commandments, a 1956 film (6.93)
• Charlton Heston, an American actor (6.93, 6.196)
• Yul Brynner, a Russian actor (6.94)
• John Derek, actor (6.94)
• Edward G. Robinson, actor (6.94)
• Bette Davis, actress (6.98)
• Dark Victory, a 1939 film (6.98)
• George Brent, actor (6.100)
• Humphrey Bogart, actor (6.102)
• Fred Astaire, dancer, singer and actor (6.141)
• Audrey Hepburn, actress (6.141)
• Funny Face, a 1957 film (6.141)
• Ben-Hur, a 1959 film
• Marilyn Monroe (7.269, 8.107, 8.176)
• Joe DiMaggio (8.107)
• Gordon Lightfoot (8.305)
• Neil Young (8.305)
• Joni Mitchell (8.305)
• Ian and Sylvia (8.305)
• Bob Dylan (8.305)
• Joan Baez (8.305)
• Ian Tyson, "Four Strong Winds" (8.305)
• Betty Grable, actress (8.497)
• Moon over Miami, a 1941 film (8.497)
• Carole Landis, American actress (8.502)
• Don Ameche, American actor (8.502)
• John Wayne, American actor (8.556)
• Esther Williams, competitive swimmer and movie star (8.556)
• Operation Pacific, a 1951 film (8.556)
• Sherlock Holmes in Terror by Night, a 1946 mystery film (8.563)
• Basil Rathbone, a British actor (8.563)
• The Beatles (9.3)
• Hank Bauer, Major League Baseball player (9.106)
• The Today Show (9.110)
• Simon and Garfunkel, "Mrs. Robinson" (9.154)
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, a 1953 film (9.426)
• Mother is a Freshman, a 1949 film (9.426)
• Loretta Young, an American actress (9.426)
• An American in Paris (9.426)
• Gene Kelly, an American actor (9.426)
• "When You Wish Upon a Star" (9.433)