The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party Visions of America Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

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)

If you swap "music" for "America" in this passage, you basically have the American dream in a nutshell: an America that's for anyone, even if that person is from some other place. So the question is, then, why doesn't Octavian describe America the same way he describes music?

Quote #5

It was a catalogue of horrors. Page after page of Negroes in bridles, strapped to walls, advertisements for shackles, reports of hangings of slaves for theft or insubordination. He had, those many months, been collecting offers for children sold cheap, requests for aid in running down families who had fled their masters. For the first time, I saw masks of iron with metal mouth-bits for the slave to suck to enforce absolute silence. I saw razored necklaces, collars of spikes that supported the head. I saw women chained in coffees, bent over on the wharves.

Mr. Gitney burned Bono's fashion catalogue an hour later.

"Let us rid ourselves," he said, "of this noisome object."

But I could not rid myself of it. It was the common property of us all. (2.13.17-20)

This is a vision of America that doesn't fit into Mr. Gitney's view of what America (or slavery) ought to be—to him, everything should be about the moon, the stars, and lots of data. But clearly that's not reality, and—as Octavian points out—the ugliness of reality is something that belongs to everyone; it can't just be burned away.

Quote #6

We heard the countryside was full of insurrection. In every town, Loyalists and rebels rose against each other. Men were beaten; some were shot at in jest. The spirit of Anarchy spread everywhere his light and agitated wings. (2.17.3)

Note how distant this whole scene seems to everyone at the College, including Octavian. It starts with "We heard," which automatically removes Octavian from a close understanding of the war. There's also a balance in the sentence "Men were beaten; some were shot at in jest." But that's the College, for you—the College isn't comfortable with the live action nature of History.