Does Irving present a worked-out way of looking at the world in A Prayer for Owen Meany?If he does what does Irving see? If not, what questions...

Irving thematically presents opposing world views
displayed through a contrast in the views of the two main characters: the narrator,
Johnny Wheelwright, and his best friend, Owen Meany. Owen Meany, by nature, is a
character who believes in God and fate. Further, he believes everyone is born with a
specific purpose in life. Johnny, on the other hand, as a child, is filled with
questions and doubt despite his religious upbringing. The ideas of fate and purpose are
particularly difficult for this orphan bastard child to accept, given that for a long
time, he does not know the identity of his father, and his mother is killed (by his best
friend and a foul baseball) when he is still pretty young.

The
majority of the novel presents the conflict of these two very basic ideas through the
ongoing and deepening friendship of Owen and Johnny, and does not seem to settle on just
one correct answer. Owen alludes to his "fate" throughout the book and eventually dies
carrying out what he believes to be his purpose in life (rescuing a group of children in
an airport bathroom from a bomber). Between this death, his mother's death, and (at this
point) the continued mystery of his father's identity, Johnny could very easily have
simply given up on any sort of faith whatsoever.

But he does
not.

The opening paragraph of the novel allows the reader to know in
advance that despite a long and difficult life journey, Johnny eventually becomes a man
of faith and belief in God. Though it is not fully revealed whether his grasp of faith
and purpose ever reaches the depth of his friend Owen, he does admit to arriving at a
similar conclusion and way of looking at the world when he says (beginning on page
1):

...he is
the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany...What faith I have
I owe to Owen Meany, a boy I grew up with. It is Owen who made me a
believer.

Though in
comparison to Owen, Johnny may consider his belief to be in the stages of infancy, he
does have a grasp of something rather than nothing. In that same passage he admits to
having a limited knowledge of Scripture, a conflicting view of the church, and a lack of
desire to be "pious." But he is also very clearly at peace with who he is, what he
believes, and why. Though he does not present one clear and distinct answer, Irving
suggests that faith (in some capacity) is a "worked out way of looking at the world."
But because the main characters never fully agree with one another, Irving also suggests
that concluding on one world view is ultimately a personal and individual
decision.