LS 5623 Advanced Literature for Young Adults

Anderson, M.T. 2006. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Traitor to the Nation: Volume I The Pox Party. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 0763624020

Compared to other boys, Octavian Nothing leads a very strange life. But Octavian knows nothing of how other boys spend their childhood. Aside from his mother, called Cassiopeia, the people around him are not addressed by names, but numbers according to their station. You see, Octavian is the subject of study by a group of scientists at a place called the College of Lucidity. Their study? To discover if Africans are a separate and distinct species or if they are the equal to any white man. The scientists measure everything about Octavian: his food intake, the weight of his excrement, his height. He is even given an education "equal to any of the princes of Europe," to test his mental capacity. While the scientists are not cruel to him, they are scientific in their behavior to him. One day, the benefactor of the college dies and his heir is appealed to to continue supporting their experiment. Only this man is not interested in discovering if Africans are equal to the white man. In fact, it is in his interest to prove that they are not.

This book is set in the years leading up to and during the American Revolution. It is written as a series of journal entries, newspaper clippings, and even letters for a large portion of the novel. The style of the language, while true to the time period I imagine, will probably put off many teens from wishing to finish the novel. Agreeing with me on this point is a Mr. Cooperman from the June 2007 edition of School Library Journal. He says that "While the idea and the scope of Anderson's novel are fresh, the plot and the prose are so confusing that it becomes difficult to follow the story."

However this book does touch upon many themes that are well worth exploring. For a world like today, where science has almost become the new religion, this novel points out the fact that while science has its uses not everything in life can be weighed and measured. Mr. Gitney, a.k.a. 03-01, chronicled everything he could about Octavian's life in a volume of books. When Octavian finds them, he immediately notes that it cannot be his whole life, for though it they could record a peach he ate one night, the books would not mention the hue of the sunset or the feel of his mother's hands. Another important theme in this novel is that of slavery and freedom. Much like Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains, the dilemma of black people during the Revolution is brought into focus. Why would a black man choose to fight for the freedom of the white men of the American nation when their own freedom, should they win, was by no means guarantied?

While this book is well worth the read, I would only recommend it to students in the upper levels of high school.


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