How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
It is, however, with pleasure that I write—and at the time, with pleasure that I marked—that many in that convocation had found my rendition not without merit; though I cannot imagine that their compliments were not due in part to their pity for my obvious distress, rather than any sympathy for a performance distorted by pride and pique. Young men pressed my hand, vowing I had spoke more of the vile institution of slavery in my few moments of sonata than all the preachers in Boston in a year; I bowed my head and thanked them, though I little believed myself responsible for stirring their sympathies. (2.9.44)
Who knew that a performance Octavian considers "easy blasphemy" (2.9.41) could sway an audience so much? We wonder though—what do these people who congratulate Octavian find so amazing? The brilliant performance? Or the black slave boy performing? Or are those two things inseparable?
Quote #8
Music hath its land of origin; and yet it is also its own country, its own sovereign power, and all may take refuge there, and all, once settled, may claim it as their own, and all may meet there in amity; and these instruments, as surely as instruments of torture, belong to all of us. (2.10.4)
Octavian's going on about the power of music the way people can go on about the all the great possibilities of America. That's because to him, music really is welcoming, and in a way that American hasn't been to him. Music has no boundaries, as shown by the fact that all these African slaves are playing with him in a band, at Faneuil Hall.
Quote #9
The afternoon sun was cast across the floor. Where the bowing and leaping should soon commence, there the old man slid and spun by himself, his arms fluttering, making pretty courtesies to chairs; pausing for a pas de Basque; his heels thumping; executing secret glissades in beeswax.
Silence and sunlight were his partners. (2.22.13-14)
Octavian is watching one of the other slaves, an old man, wax the floors in preparation for the pox party. But waxing isn't just what he's doing; he's dancing—specifically (at least to Octavian) ballet. Hey… work doesn't always have to be just work. Finding and creating beauty can happen in even the worst situations. In fact, maybe that's when grace and beauty are most necessary.