A Prayer For Owen Meany

Ah! Where do I begin. John Irving's wonderful novel, "A Prayer For Owen Meany," has been my biggest frustration today. I have to connect the book to Thomas Foster's, "How to Read Literature Like A Professor, chapter 1: It is always a quest (Except when it's not)." Sounds simple, right? Well, I have four of the five aspects already.
1: Our quester- OWEN
2: A place to go- Vietnam
3: Challenge(s) en route- He is assigned to complete duties in Arizona
4: A real reason to go there: To teach John faith.
Now, number 5: The stated reason to go there.
He says he needs to go to Vietnam to save the children. What I am not completely understanding is if Owen is the primary quester, or if John is the primary quester.
After John's mother dies, he decides one day, he will go on a quest to find his father. His place to go? Boston, to find out some information about his mother. Challenges en route? He learns that his mother was a singer at a nightclub and was lying to him, thus his assumption that she was as "simple" as his Aunt thought. Now, the real reason for John going on his quest...I do not know.


Oh, the frustrations. I should figure it all out within thirty minutes. Hopefully. :)