For Freedom: Pages 240-308

         This section takes place just after the death and dissection of Octavian's mother; when he has run away from The College of Lucidity to gain some greater semblance of freedom. Mr. Gitney and Mr. Sharpe advertize for his capture, and his wandering story is told through the letters of farmers and Patriots. 
         The first letter was written by a farmer called Mr. Tolley, who alerted Mr. Gitney to Octavian's brief presence in his smokehouse. Mr. Tolley threatened Octavian with a gun, to which Octavian "...pressed his chest to the gun and closed his eyes"(241).  Octavian's depression and apparent futility in life was made clear to the reader through Elijah Trolley's words; who described him as being "already dead".
         After a brief stint as a vagabond, Octavian seemed to have found work as a fiddler at an Inn when he was discovered by the Patriot, Private Goring. Upon hearing Octavian play so well, he encouraged his party to take an interest in hiring the boy, and so began the adventures of Octavian the Patriot.  The letters of Private Goring presented Octavian as silent, and it was clear that "...His Sadness [was] impenetrable" (255).  Goring however, seemed to speak often and encouraged Octavian (or Prince, as he had come to be known) to do the same as the party of men made their way to Boston to fight the Redcoats. 
        Private Goring was frequently alarmed at the horrors Prince Octavian must have suffered at the hands of his former owners, especially when some small hint of his past was revealed. "'The Human Heart,' recited he bitterly as if from some damp lesson, ' is a Muscle that operates through Constriction.'...'I have seen a Heart lying on a Plate, jolted with Electricity. It had as much to say dead as alive'"(258).  In this passage, Octavian illustrated that he no longer felt or wished to experience desires and feelings like a man.  Rather, he had withdrawn, as Mr. Gitney might say: he had become wonderous Observant in his silence.
       Throughout his letters, Goring showed an uncommon interest in Octavian, and in his letters, only the Prince's thoughts and feelings were recorded in detail.  Although Octavian might apparently "...seize his Freedom by any Means"(264), the sadness which dwelled within him could not have been entirely gone, as he sought to die during the first stand against the British.  Goring saved him, and Octavian and he grew much closer as Octavian endeavored to speak a little more.  "I cannot imagine the peculiar Circumstances of his Life & I fear to wonder at it"(281).  This is what Goring wrote after seeing Octavian teach children the anatomy and physiology of fish, which would undeniably be strange information for a slave to have.
        Octavian and Goring weathered the battle of Bunker Hill, after Octavian had found a new zeal in laboring for the cause of liberty.  For freedom, Octavian had become changed.  He labored gladly in the cause, and used anger to fuel his work. 
        Unfortunately, by the end of the section, Goring unwittingly turned Octavian in to slave traders, believing him to have entered employment as a fiddler for an opera of sorts. It was interesting to read Octavian's deepest desire, before he was taken away and clapped in irons beyond the sight of Goring.  Essentially, he recreated that day by the river with Lord Chelderthrope, but it was just him and "Someone Else shall play the harpsichord" (300), just like his mother might have.  It was clear that Octavian had finally begun to hope again, despite the scoffing of the guards around him. 
        Mr. Sharpe's letter detailed the recapture of Octavian, and a letter between slave traders was included. What is most interesting, was the sharp contrast between the slave trader's letter, and Octavian's writing on page 309, although it is a page outside of the section.  The trader scoffed at Octavian's dream of freedom, but could hardly write an understandable paragraph.  Such a man was permitted to speak, but for Octavian, "They gave me a tounge; and then stopped it up, so they would not have to hear it crying" (309). Once again, the arrogance with which his masters treat him is readily apparent.  They believe they can rob him of his mind; of the freedom of mind that they gave him.