Octavian Nothing, aka Octavian Gitney, aka Prince Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• Octavian tells us all about his classical education and the generally weird life he leads at the College with Mr. Gitney, his mother, his tutors, and all the other slaves.
• He sneaks into Mr. Gitney's private study and discovers that—gasp—he and his mother are lab rats in Mr. Gitney's experiment to prove that black people are just as intelligent and human as whites. Even worse, this means they're slaves too.
• A new man—Lord Cheldthorpe—enters Cassiopeia's and the College's life, and Octavian isn't totally happy about it, but he gets used to the lord.
• Until Lord Cheldthorpe asks his mother to be a mistress, that is, which sets Cassiopeia off… and as a result, Octavian bursts into Cassiopeia's room and tries to defend his mother.
• Octavian and his mother get whipped and sent to the ice house overnight.
• Mr. Sharpe enters the College to save the day—only his idea of "saving" means changing everything about the College, including Octavian's education. He forbids Octavian to read stories of any kind and won't let him play the violin.
• Unless, of course, Octavian is dressed as the devil and playing "The Devil's Trill" for money—which is decidedly not something Octavian enjoys.
• Mr. Sharpe also turns Octavian into a servant; Bono trains him and they become close.
• The Brits take over Boston, so the College moves to a house out in Canaan, Massachusetts.
• Bono is sent away to a guy in Virginia, but not before he tells Octavian to pick up this garden rock when he feels the need to pray.
• The College holds a pox party, in which everyone gets the smallpox vaccine; Octavian gets sick but recovers.
• His mother dies, however, and Octavian witnesses her dissection.
• Octavian escapes the College and bounces from place to place until he ends up with a company of Patriots.
• He works as a fiddler in the company, and then later as part of a Negro work crew in another company.
• His friend Private Goring unknowingly leads Mr. Sharpe and some slave-catchers to Octavian, at which point Octavian is imprisoned at the house in Canaan.
• Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Gitney give him a final interview, and Octavian sticks up for himself.
• Dr. Trefusis drugs Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Gitney and helps Octavian to escape.
• As Volume 1 ends, the two of them flee to Roxbury and begin to swim across the Channel to Boston.