The Armadillo

Dan Needham, a teacher at the Gravesend Academy, often uses props while talking to help the listeners focus or to distract them from what they would later find out. When he first goes to meet the Wheelwrights, he brings a prop for Johnny, a bag with another bag in it, and tells him to not look inside and to keep his eye on it, distracting the young boy. When Johnny eventually gets curious, he finds a stuffed armadillo inside. Though he is afraid of it at first glance, he and his best friend becomes very fond of the stuffed toy and keeps it by his nightstand. Not only is the stuffed armadillo a prop for Johnny when Dan first meets the family, but it is also a parallel for Owen Meany and the dummy and a symbol of love and trust.

The Armadillo and Owen Meany have a lot of parallels. Both are very endangered creatures. Owen being an incredibly small man with a voice that sounds terribly high pitch, simply a one of a kind person, while the armadillo is a one of a kind creature to Johnny. Also, both are not appealing to the eye, but people still end up loving them. Owen is a disgusting looking person, with huge ears and a very small body, but people still seem to be drawn to him like a beacon and are unable to stop themselves from touching him. In the same way, the armadillo is a very weird creature, looking like a rat-like anteater with a shell, but Johnny and Owen fall in love with the creature and constantly play with it. Finally, the stuffed animal represents a christ figure, like Owen. The animal is completely respected by the boys, and they depended on it to help them get through not only the fun times, but also the hard times, like when Johnny’s mother dies. Also, after Owen declaws the creature, he makes it seem like he is God’s instrument, and shows that by declawing the creature, adding to the motif of amputation. This motif is shared with the dummy that Johnny’s mother uses to make new clothes. Both objects are loved by their owners, and both represent important characters in the book. The armadillo isn’t only doubled with other things throughout the novel, but is also used as a symbol for love and truth.

The armadillo is also used to symbolize love and truth. The armadillo is given to Johnny when they first met, and begins to show the love between the two as time goes on and they grow closer. It also symbolizes the trust that Johnny has for Owen, for he trusts Owen enough to play with and even keep the stuffed toy that means so much to him. Finally, both of the boys love the toy and constantly are protecting it from people like Johnny’s cousins. As the novel continues, I believe that the armadillo will continue to be an important symbol and double to Owen.