Study Guide

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party Part 1, Chapter 1

By M.T. Anderson

Part 1, Chapter 1

Octavian's telling us all about where he grew up, and it's definitely a little weird.
First off, he remembers stuff like a house, a garden and apple trees.
Okay, not that big of a whoop. Sounds like a pretty typical house, right?
But here's where things start to get strange.
Octavian's holding his mom's hand as they look at flames rising from the orchard behind the big house.
And his mom is smiling with delight.
Servants are lighting gas on fire.
By the way, there's also a huge wall surrounding the property, you know, to keep people out.
But also to keep people in. Yep—things are getting freaky.
But the wall isn't something Octavian understands until he's older, looking back on everything.
Then a last line: Octavian gets all philosophical on us and says something about (we're totally paraphrasing here) how everything that wants to rise up, ends up burning or destroying itself.
Cheery fellow, this Octavian.

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