An Octoroon

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2015

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Access Full Guide

Before You Read

Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Act II

Acts III-V

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Discussion Questions

Essay Topics

Consider the casting and double casting as laid out in the text. How does this casting plan serve the play’s themes? What ideas of race does the playwright raise or interrogate through casting?

How does the playwright use metatheatricality? What effect does this have? Choose three examples of metatheatricality from the text and explain each.

Research Br’er Rabbit. What is his significance in the history of American culture? What does he represent in An Octoroon? Choose three instances in the play when Br’er Rabbit appears to analyze.