Summary Of The Astonishing Life Of Octavian Nothing By Mt Anderson

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, by M.T. Anderson is a profound and often gut-wrenching account of the Revolutionary-era mindset. The novel follows Octavian, the son of an African princess named Cassiopeia and his adventures in the Novanglian College of Lucidity. Publicly thought as a slave, but actually a test subject, Octavian is trained in Greek, Latin, French, poetry, music etc. His studies are abruptly halted due to a change of sponsorship of the College and his skills in the arts and sciences begin to dip. After the tragic loss of his mother to smallpox, his escape and eventual recapturing, Octavian is finally told his purpose as a test subject. He was used to prove the inferiority of the African race. It is later revealed that the halting of his studies was used to skew the results of this experiment after
This experiment was to be used justify the vile institution of slavery and, “To maintain the stability of the nation….” (Anderson 338). Through the story of Octavian, we see America’s desperate dependency on the institution of slavery and the country’s willingness to justify it by any means necessary. Whether it be the skewing of data or the murdering of men.

Despite the fact that Octavian was give lavish treatment and luxurious clothes, he was meant to fail. He had to fail. In a Revolutionary-era America, slavery was at the basis of everything. Cotton was picked by slaves and sold by owners. This cotton brought in a substantial amount of revenue and during the war, and was used to clothe troops. With such a large revenue, farmers expanded their land. They themselves couldn’t pick all the cotton and hiring a farm-hand was just too expensive. The answer? Slaves. Without slavery