The narrator, John, introduces Owen Meany, a member of his Sunday School class. Owen is unusually small and has a distinct voice, and the students develop a game of lifting him above their heads and passing him around the classroom when the teacher is out of the room. John recalls that Owen is so small that he is discouraged by baseball coaches from swinging while at bat—his small strike zone guarantees he’ll earn a walk.

John provides the history of his grandfather and namesake, John Wheelwright, one of the founders of Gravesend, New Hampshire and a Puritan minister. John’s family is involved in the lumber business, while Owen’s family works in the granite industry. John’s mother, Tabitha “Tabby” Wheelwright, dies when he is 11 and she is 30; he does not know who his father is, though Owen Meany assures John that his father will one day reveal himself. John describes his grandmother, Harriet Wheelwright, who looks down upon the Meany family because they are not descendants of the Mayflower. John describes how, after his mother married the man who would adopt him, they switched from the Congregational Church to the Episcopalian one, which the Meanys attend as well.