A READERS’ GUIDE

1. Many American stories follow the rags-to-riches format made famous by Horatio Alger Jr., in which the main character, living in poverty, works hard and sacrifices to achieve the American dream. By contrast, at the beginning of the story, Octavian appears to have everything — his mother, his health, fine clothes, and a superior education — but at the end, he has little or nothing left. Do you agree? Is this a riches-to-rags story?

2. When Mr. Sharpe takes over the Novanglian College of Lucidity, Octavian is no longer given stories and whole manuscripts to learn from, but rather fragments in isolation, on which he is tested. Might Anderson be making a comment about the current practice of standardized testing in education today? Would you agree with him?

3. When Octavian joins Lord Dunmore’s Royal Ethiopian Regiment, he hears the many stories of his fellow Africans and records them in his journal. How does this informal education on the condition of his fellow man compare with the formal classical education he received at the College of Lucidity? Which had more influence on the man that Octavian becomes by the story’s end?

4. Late in the story, Dr. Trefusis declares that “‘Only the dead hath seen the end of war.’ ” (located on this page). Is a nation that chooses peace and puts down its weapons forever at risk of invasion by another seeking dominion? Or do you believe that Octavian is right in his hope that there must be “some place one could go and begin again. This time, untainted”?

5. A rumination in Josiah Gitney’s diary (located on this page) questions “whether Man is a Reasonable Creature hamper’d by Passions, or a Passionate Creature hamper’d by Reason.” Which side are you on?

6. For such a serious story, which includes an abundance of grim events, the text is also peppered with humor. Is there a humorous moment or line that stuck out for you? Which character do you find the most humorous?

7. In a story that focuses so intently on identity, names are very important. Cassiopeia is named after a constellation, and astronomy permeates the novels. Some characters are given only numbers for names. Pro Bono takes on many names throughout the books to escape from trouble, and Octavian chooses to take the surname of Nothing. Discuss the implications of these names as they relate to the characters and to the plot.

8. This work was originally published for a teen audience. Some adults think it is too sophisticated for teens to understand. What books were you reading as a teen that adults might suggest were too complicated for you? Were there any that you reread as an adult in order to gain new understanding? Do you think we underestimate teens today?

9. Bravery in the face of uncertainty is a theme throughout the narrative. The rebels rose up against their own powerful British government at great risk and with unknown outcome. What acts of bravery are committed by the book’s individual main characters? Octavian? Cassiopeia? Pro Bono? Mr. Trefusis? Mr. Gitney?

10. In his author’s note, Anderson says that while researching and writing Octavian Nothing, he encountered this paradox of the Revolutionary War era: that “Liberty was at once a quality so abstract so as to be insubstantial — and yet so real in its manifestations that it was worth dying for.” What does liberty mean to you? What hypocrisies are at work in our current time for which we may be held accountable in the years to come?