Placing Octet in the Literary Canon

Tyler Robertson
I. Defining Literary Merit
The tradition of literary criticism has produced over the years numerous definitions of
what constitutes literary merit. A conventional definition of the term sets several requirements
for a work to have literary merit: that it must be entertaining and interesting, is unique and
innovative, has stood the test of time, demonstrates thematic depth, has been judged to have
artistic quality, and has universal appeal. While all of these may be indicative of a quality literary
work, the only aspects that truly define literary merit is that the work has thematic depth, and that
it stands out in some way.
Many of the criteria set by the conventional definition of literary merit are unnecessary
and exclude works from the literary canon that should be included. The idea that a work of
literary merit must have stood the test of time in some way places an age requirement on
canonical literature. Media from the past 20 years may still be innovative and thematically rich,
and its literary merit should not be ignored simply because of its publication date. It’s difficult to
argue that a recent work has stood the test of time, since it has not had the time to do so, but that
argument should not have to be made. Universal appeal, in addition to being a somewhat
nebulous idea, is also not required for a work to have literary merit. There are works that have
complex themes, but which are unique to a particular experience or set of experiences, and these
works should be recognized as having literary merit.
Several of the requirements that the standard definition of literary merit sets are
unnecessary because they are too subjective. One would be hard-pressed to find a novel, play, or
any other piece of media that entertains everyone, and yet part of the traditional definition of
literary merit is that the work is entertaining. There are novels and other works that are
considered canonical literature which many people don’t enjoy; for example, Les Misérables is
considered a great novel, with literary merit, but its length and Victor Hugo’s frequent
digressions mean it doesn’t always hold a reader’s interest. Artistic quality is also a far too
subjective standard to judge literary merit by. For one thing, who is the literary community
evaluating “artistic quality”? Additionally, the literary community and their judgements are
inconsistent not only across however the literary community is defined, but also over time. Some
works that are now considered to have literary merit have been judged less positively by the
literary community at other points in time. Moby-Dick is widely accepted to be part of the canon
and is now considered to be one of the great American novels; however, criticism at the time of
publication was mixed and it sold less than 4,000 copies within author Herman Melville’s
lifetime. Entertainment value and critical and/or commercial reception are far too subjective and
vague to be used in a definition of literary merit.
There are two criteria that should be used in judging literary merit: thematic depth and
innovation. One common thread across all of the works in the literary canon is that they all raise
big questions or make significant statements about an aspect of human experience. In a work of
merit, these big ideas are not simply brought up, but are explored in a complex way. The other
element important to canonical literature is innovation. In defining literary merit, innovation can
constitute a number of things. One way a work may be innovative is if it frames our
understanding of an era or place in a significant way. The Great Gatsby, for example, is a novel
about the intangibility of the “American Dream”, but it is also significant in how it defines
contemporary views of 1920s America. A work can also be innovative if it brings forward a new
perspective that is underrepresented in the literary canon, like works that center the experiences
of women or people of color. A piece of media with merit might also be stylistically innovative
and present its characters and/or narrative in a unique way, or overall have a style or structure
that stands out. A work of literary merit should demonstrate innovation in one of these ways, as
well has having nuanced and significant themes. With this new definition of literary merit, media
that was previously not considered to be part of the canon, specifically Dave Malloy’s Octet, can
be evaluated.

II. What is Octet About?

Octet is a chamber choir musical that focuses on a group of eight people with
technological addictions. The characters are attendees of a support group, called “Friends of
Saul,” for people with such addictions. Saul is mentioned multiple times, but never actually
appears within the musical. Throughout the show, the characters each discuss their individual
technology-related issues. The leader of the group, Paula, laments how technology has caused
her and her husband to grow distant. Jessica is an unfortunate victim of cancel culture, Henry is a
video game addict, Karly’s struggles involve online dating, and Ed is a pornography addict.
Toby is a paranoid conspiracy theorist and Marvin spends his nights debating strangers on
science forums. The newest member of the group, Velma, has found community on the Internet
for better and for worse. The songs of Octet are largely unconnected, focusing a specific
character and furthermore on a specific digital-related issue. The musical is bookended by two
“hymns” sung by the support group members, “The Forest” and “The Field”. The closing
number of Act I, “Fugue State,” is delightfully chaotic and within the support group serves as a
time “where anyone can exercise or voice any thoughts, impulses, or feelings that might come
up.” Act II opens with “The Monster,” a song that is narratively framed as a hymn, but is more
like a death march about the Internet’s destructive potential. The plot of Octet is loose, and the
musical is more of a mediation on technology’s role in our lives.
In Octet, Dave Malloy forces his audience to confront the inescapable presence of
technology in our lives. While the focus naturally tends toward the negative aspects of
technology and the Internet, seeing as the characters are addicts, the work still manages to
present a nuanced perspective on technology’s role in modern life. The issues that Malloy
highlights- addiction, isolation, online toxicity- demonstrate how much digital life impacts us
today, for better or for worse. Still, unlike most criticisms of technology, Octet is more nuanced
in that it does not identify it as an isolated cause of all problems. Rather, many of the characters
in Octet have underlying mental health issues, which are exacerbated by their digital lives and
addictions. Toby, for example, is a paranoid schizophrenic, and the online communities he is
involved in heighten his symptoms but are not the cause of them. Additionally, Octet recognizes
the Internet’s potential as a useful tool for connecting with people. Many of the characters
comment that they had heard about the support group online, and Velma’s song “Beautiful” is
about an Internet friendship that has positively impacted her mental health. Octet’s statements on
the Internet and technology are incredibly relevant, as will later be shown, as well as having
much more depth than most criticisms of technology. Malloy does not demonize the Internet, but
he invites his audience to be more thoughtful about the role it plays in their lives. He recognizes
its significance, and evaluates it, and asks his audience to do the same. The central idea about
technology put forth by Octet is not that it is always bad, but rather this: technology’s prevalence
in modern life enables its destructive potential, especially for already fragile people, and we must
be mindful of our consumption lest we fall victim to “the monster.” In the 21st century, these
themes are incredibly significant, and the depth to which Octet explores them as well as the other
themes present in the work demonstrates its literary merit.
The characters of Octet also illustrate the human need for community, which is key to
another one of the musical’s major themes. The musical’s characters and their addictions and
issues present an argument that interpersonal connection is a deep human need and one that,
especially in the age of the Internet, can become so desperate that it morphs into self-
destructiveness. Many of the musical’s characters demonstrate this concept; perhaps the most
obvious is Karly. Her addiction is to online dating and dating apps, which she comes back to
despite the treatment she receives from the men on them in the vain hope of finding romantic
fulfillment. Her desire to find that romantic connection outweighs her self-preservation, because
the need for a meaningful interpersonal bond is that strong. Ed’s desire for connection is similar
to Karly’s in that it is also romantic, and it pushes him to finding community elsewhere, in a
much more destructive place. His lack of romantic success leads him, like many real-life men, to
finding his primary human connections in online incel forums which only fuel self-hate,
misogyny, and even violence. Ed’s lack of real-life relationships is also the cause of his
pornography addiction; pornography becomes a surrogate for actual connection (and, of course,
sex) and develops into an addiction, detrimental to his psyche. The character of Jessica also
reflects the musical’s themes concerning isolation and connection in an interesting, complex
way. Jessica is shamed and ostracized by the online community over an unspecified “incident,”
and this in and of itself is clearly detrimental to her psyche. However, Jessica’s issues and
experience go further than the negative impact of her “cancelling”; after the incident, she
becomes obsessed with reading the things that people have said about her online. The attention
she receives is negative, and comes from strangers on the Internet, but she keeps coming back to
it. The cruel comments she reads become a surrogate for a constructive relationship, because
they still generate emotion even if it isn’t positive emotion. Feeding into the cycle of negative
attention is preferable to the alternative of complete isolation; here, Malloy continues to
demonstrate the depth of the innate need to experience emotion in relation to other human beings
and connect to them. The characters of Karly, Ed, and Jessica all depict a dangerous result of the
failure to adequately connect to others- a significant and pernicious issue of the Internet age. Still
yet is the denunciation of isolation and the importance of meaningful relationships furthered by
characters whose technological experiences drive wedges between them and the rest of humanity
to painful ends, or whose addictions serve as a toxic replacement for human connection. The
former applies to Paula (and her unnamed husband), and the latter to Henry. Paula describes both
herself and her husband as addicts, and their technological addictions have damaged the fabric of
their relationship and their ability to connect with one another. Her anguish, like the struggles of
the characters previously described, centers around the absence of interpersonal intimacy and
meaningful bonds. She has reached what Malloy presents as the depths of human experience:
loneliness and isolation. Henry, too, is isolated from most of human experience by his addiction;
he plays his video games rather than interact with others, possibly because it seems safer and
simpler. In Octet, technology is the vehicle of isolation, but it is also a tool for building
communities and friendships. Several of the characters say that they learned about the support
group via the Internet. In fact, the very nature of Octet as being set within a support group
reflects the importance that the musical places on positive and supportive communities. Velma,
the youngest character of the musical, best embodies the importance of connection and the
Internet’s capacity for it in a positive way. She makes references to her past involvement in a
toxic online community (eventually revealed to be one centering around self-harm) and has since
replaced it with the healthier though not unproblematic online spiritual and tarot communities,
but she also describes an online friendship that is deeply important to her. The Internet has
allowed her to form a real friendship with “a girl in Saint-Marie” who she relates and connects
to. She is brought out of her isolation and her newfound friendship uplifts her. Malloy uses
Velma and the existence of the support group as a whole to illustrate the positive outcome when
humans have the communities that they need, and many of the other characters demonstrate the
worst possibilities of when they do not. The idea that all humans inherently crave connection
with others is central to Octet, as it is to many canonical works of literature. Malloy takes a
nuanced, interesting approach to this idea by exploring both the positive and negative sides of it
and considering how deep the need for connection might go and its potential to become
destructive. The complexity with which Octet mediates on isolation, connection, and technology
is indicative of its status as a thematically rich work, but also its relevance: Malloy asks his
audience to consider how they connect and relate to others in the age of the Internet.
Another issue Malloy confronts in Octet is how our digital lives can affirm or even shape
our identities, sometimes in an unhealthy manner. All of the characters tie their concept of
themselves to their online personas and experiences to some extent. When identity becomes too
deeply attached to online experiences, unhealthy behaviors and thought processes can result. The
Internet can be a place where many people seek validation and Malloy has created several
characters in Octet who do just that. Karly is seeking validation through a romantic relationship
and tries to find one through dating apps, which is a clearly unhealthy habit for her. Ed shares a
desire to be validated and loved, but his lack of romantic success leads him to construct a new
identity- one centering around self-loathing. His new belief that he is unlovable and undesirable
feeds into the things and communities he engages with online, and these online communities
reinforce his low self-esteem, and this creates his incredibly poor self-image. One’s identity
might also be built on the perceptions of others, and the Internet is an environment where this
can occur easily, and often in detrimental ways. This process is exemplified in Octet by Jessica,
who after her incident and Internet-shaming becomes obsessed with what strangers online say
about her. The comments she reads are negative and cruel, and they make her feel worse about
herself, but she keeps coming back to them. She internalizes online negativity and allows it to
form a portion of her identity. The reverse side of this is identity constructed around superiority;
this is shown by Toby and Marvin, but Malloy makes it clear that their senses of self are just as
warped and unhealthy as those of characters like Ed or Jessica. Toby thinks of himself as a hero
of sorts, believing he is one of the only people who sees the truth about everything. While he
makes some valid points, his self-perceived heroism and righteousness unravels, and the
audience and the other characters recognize that he is also a paranoid conspiracy theorist.
Marvin’s sense of self is tied greatly to his intelligence, and the Internet allows him to reify his
self-perception by debating creationists about God and evolution online. However, the
importance he places on his intellect and skepticism proves to be problematic for him after his
experience with Little God; he and his fellow scientists are too concerned with rational
explanations for the wonders she presents them to simply behold them. The superior identities
that Marvin and Toby had formed online fall apart. Velma, on the other hand, is able to form a
more positive sense of self because of her online friendship. She forms this friendship because
the girl reminds her of herself, and her friend helps her to see herself in a new, more positive
light. Once again, Velma serves as Malloy’s vehicle for recognizing the positive potential of
technology in a musical that is otherwise very critical of it. Octet acknowledges the constructive
ways online experience can inform identity, but it also presents something worth consideration: it
is human nature to strive to build and affirm personal identities, but identity can sometimes be
constructed around toxic concepts and in unhealthy ways, and the Internet enables this further
than ever before.
Octet deals with a group of characters in various stages of recovery from addiction, and
Malloy presents recovery as a spiritual journey. This is most evident in the way that tarot is
incorporated throughout the work. Tarot is significant to Octet both as a part of the narrative and
outside of it. Within the musical, Velma is greatly interested in tarot and invested in the online
tarot community. While this online community is not without flaws- which Velma briefly rails
against between songs- it is still instrumental in her recovery. For Velma, her recovery begins
from her experience with tarot and the online community, because it provides a healthier
replacement for the previous community she was involved in online that centered around self-
harm, and because it allows her to both make the friend who has a large positive impact on her
mental health and discover the support group. This demonstrates the pivotal role spirituality
plays in recovery, while doing so in a more subtle way. Tarot is also incorporated into Octet in a
less explicit way, furthering the emphasis on spirituality during recovery. Each character and
scene in the musical is represented by one of the Major Arcana, which are part of a standard tarot
deck. The introductory hymn, “The Forest,” is represented by The Moon, symbolizing an
illumination of the subconscious and a search for clarity on personal issues. Velma is represented
by The Fool, which is the first card in the Major Arcana. As such, The Fool represents
innocence, hope, new beginnings and untapped potential, which is appropriate for Velma as the
youngest and newest member of the support group at the beginning of her recovery. A common
idea with tarot is the concept of “The Fool’s Journey,” the idea that the Major Arcana each
correspond to a point in the journey of life undertaken by The Fool until spiritual fulfillment is
reached. By connecting each character to one of the Major Arcana, Malloy shows them each on
different points of the spiritual journey of recovery and reconnecting with oneself. Jessica is
represented by V. The Hierophant, a card representing tradition and order. Henry’s card, X. The
Hermit, can signify either isolation or self-reflection. III. The High Priestess is connected to
Paula, and it is fitting for the group’s leader to be represented by a card that guides internal
exploration and understanding. Karly’s card is, ironically, The Lovers, representing not where
she is on her journey but the problems she faces. XIII. Death suggests impending change and, if
reversed, resistance to it; this card represents Ed, who is in a precarious state of mind and
struggling to face it. Toby’s card is explicitly brought up within the text of the show; he
proclaims himself The Magician, which is a tarot card that symbolizes inspired action (which
Toby craves), but can also signify overambition of wisdom (which Toby exhibits). Velma is the
one who identifies Marvin as The Hanged Man; for Marvin, this card represents the way that his
entire worldview has been turned upside-down. The other songs are also connected to tarot
cards; “Fugue State” is X. Wheel of Fortune, representing upheaval, and “Monster” is XV. The
Devil, indicating a situation out of balance. “Tower Tea Ceremony” is of course The Tower- a
cleansing fire allowing for rebirth and renewal. Finally, “The Field” is the final song in the
musical and is embodied by The World, the last card of the Major Arcana which symbolizes
completion and spiritual fulfillment. Through these connections to tarot, which add another layer
of meaning to the work without being heavy-handed, Malloy furthers his idea of recovery- like
life- being a spiritual journey. Each of the characters are on different points of this journey, but
they go through it together and by the end are much improved, and much more spiritually
fulfilled and whole.
Often, one of the benefits of technology that people argue for is that it allows anyone to
access a wealth of information. However, Octet makes a rare case by presenting the potential
downsides of the expansion of knowledge in the digital age- particularly, that it can hinder our
humanity and emotionality. Malloy uses two of his characters to illustrate this: Toby and Marvin.
Toby’s idea of himself as a truth-seeker, fueled by online forums and the vast amount of (both
accurate and inaccurate) information available to him on the Internet, proves to have a
detrimental effect on his mental health. By the end of his song, “Actually,” Toby explains that he
has difficulty interacting and connecting with people face-to-face, and frequently experiences
dissociation. His sense of self and the aspects of technology that have contributed to it have
negatively affected his ability to experience and engage with his emotions, because he has come
to value his knowledge over it. Marvin also demonstrates the conflict between emotionality and
knowledge. He is a scientist, and an atheist, but he and his coworkers meet a girl who says she
might be God and asks them to “run some tests” to see if she is. Little God, as Marvin calls her,
performs numerous feats before the scientists. However, Marvin and the others find themselves
trying to create scientific explanations for everything Little God does, rather than allowing
themselves to behold and be amazed by the things she shows them. Marvin’s rationalism, his
skepticism, and his need for everything to have some sort of explanation cause him to seriously
question his emotional and spiritual life. It prevents him from experiencing wonder, and by
extension other grand feelings; he is “paralyzed by the unforgiving relentlessness of [his]
intellect.” He recognizes the fact that if he can explain away miracles and God, then he can just
as easily explain away any emotion he feels. A desire to understand the world is not a bad thing,
and skepticism can be healthy, but Marvin exemplifies the risks of taking these things as the
foundation of one’s worldview. Both his worldview and Toby’s are founded upon a sense of
intellectual superiority, and both cause them to become disconnected with their emotionality.
Malloy does not set out to demonize science or intellectualism, but recognizes the conflict it
poses with spirituality and emotion. He depicts two rather extreme examples of overvaluing
skepticism and undervaluing emotionality. This is a perspective that is not commonly examined,
but is incredibly relevant to human experience. Octet skews in favor of spirituality over
rationalism but it is in no way blatant and the other side is not demonized. Rather, Malloy
suggests the two should be balanced in a way many people fail to do, and asks the die-hard
skeptics and intellectuals of his audience to reconsider their worldview.
III. Octet and the Digital Age
Octet is a piece of art that is incredibly relevant to the current times and explores many
pertinent issues of a digital era. In Octet, Dave Malloy demonstrates a deeper understanding of
Internet culture and the problems of the digital era than most technologically critical media. The
issues Malloy confronts are much more complex than the simple proposition that we are
spending too much time on our cell phones, and even more relevant. The audience can see itself
in the characters of Octet even if their own problems aren’t so severe, because of the inescapable
role that technology plays in everyone’s lives in this day and age. Octet is a demonstration of
how much technology and the Internet pervade modern life, for better and for worse.
The issues which Octet addresses are complex and incredibly relevant to the digital age,
and some of them seem to be exclusive to it. So-called “cancel culture,” for example, is a modern
phenomenon originating on social media platforms like Twitter, and Malloy does not shy away
from criticizing it through the character of Jessica. The vastness of the Internet and the
technology that we all carry in our pockets can paradoxically be both a tool to connect and a
means of isolation, and Malloy acknowledges both of these in a way that is nuanced rather than
contradictory. The way we connect or fail to connect with others in the digital age is a central
theme of the musical. Octet explores many aspects of online experience that connect to this
theme, from the aforementioned “cancelling” to online dating to toxic community forums.
Malloy depicts a world where almost all social experience is warped through the lens of the
Internet- and it is an incredibly realistic depiction. In the digital era, it is simultaneously
incredibly easy to connect with others, and immensely difficult to do so in a way that is both
constructive and meaningful. Octet illustrates this conflict- a defining conflict of the digital age-
effectively and holds a mirror up to these contemporary issues. Malloy demonstrates an
understanding of the problems of the digital age to the extent that the work is able to encapsulate
them exceptionally well.
Another way that Octet is successful in innovatively portraying the digital era is how well
it conveys the way that the Internet impacts modern life for just about everyone. Malloy achieves
this by portraying characters that are painfully relatable. Most people don’t consider themselves
addicted to technology, but one can identify with Jessica’s online self-flagellation, Henry’s
gaming obsession, Toby’s disillusionment or Ed’s pornography consumption much more easily.
This forces the audience to consider how much they have in common with these characters, these
maladjusted addicts, and how technology may impact their lives much more than they had
initially thought. Furthermore, many people like to discount their digital experiences and
separate them from their “real” lives, but Octet continues to acknowledge the Internet’s
omnipresence by negating this idea entirely. The characters’ technological addictions and online
behaviors have very real effects and implications for other aspects of their lives, as is the case for
anyone. Velma addresses this blatantly in “Fugue State,” saying, “When we say ‘in real life’, this
is a lie to protect us. It is all real; it is all real life.” In addition to the social problems that
technology has generated in the digital age, Octet also portrays the Internet’s ubiquitous nature
and the implications it has, further creating a defining portrait of our technologically-oriented
world.
As a piece of art, Octet defines the moment in time we are in and demonstrates its merit
by doing so. Malloy successfully portrays the modern problem of forging meaningful
connections in an age dominated by “rapid and vapid ‘click-clicks,’” and the various
manifestations of this problem. Furthermore, he conveys the universality of the Internet through
his cast of eight deeply human characters and reminds his audience that the Internet seeps into
so-called “real life” more often than they realize. With Octet, Malloy has created a musical that
innovates by depicting the digital age in a complex and exemplary way. One of the reasons Octet
belongs in the literary canon is that it demonstrates itself as a work that defines modern,
digitally-impacted life.
IV. Stylistic Innovation
Unlike conventional works of literature such as novels and plays, musicals have an
additional component to add another layer of meaning to the work: the orchestrations. Dave
Malloy is a composer known for unique musical stylings, and the score of Octet provides an
example of his unorthodox compositions. Furthermore, Malloy’s music adds even more to the
themes, ideas, and meaning of the work, compared to the text alone.
Octet is an a cappella musical; the only instrument featured in the entire performance is a
pitch pipe. This further emphasizes the conflict of the musical between technology and
humanity. Instruments are, though we often don’t think of them as such, a form of technology.
The score of Octet deliberately omits instrumentation and instead demonstrates the range of
capabilities of the human voice. Malloy’s orchestrations and the cast members’ performances
create a variety of effects that most people wouldn’t expect the human voice to be capable of.
The musical choice of pitting unaccompanied human voices against the Internet, in all its
vastness and void, furthers the notion of how insurmountable and unavoidable technology is in
modern life, and how unequipped we are to deal with the problems that arise from it. The variety
of vocal effects rendered by the performers of Octet and the absence of other instruments also
strengthens the emotionality and humanity of the work. The vocalists conjure moods and convey
the full spectrum of human emotion without instrumental assistance. This has the effect of
promoting emotional expression and underscoring the idea that the technology that surrounds us
in everyday life is unnecessary for or even hinders that emotional expression. Additionally, the a
cappella nature of Octet is appropriate to its setting. There is no in-universe reason for a band,
much less a full orchestra, to be present at a 12-step meeting, for starters. The lack of one makes
the experience of Octet much more intimate, as a support group is intended to be. The a cappella
nature of Octet is one of the ways that Malloy uses his orchestrations in an innovative way that
strengthens the musical’s core ideas and thus demonstrates the work’s merit.
Malloy’s orchestrations also convey tone in his songs beyond what the lyrics themselves
do, adding another layer to their meanings. For example, in the song “Candy” Malloy utilizes his
musical arrangements to portray the song’s subject- Henry’s video game addiction- even more
vividly. The song begins jaunty and up-tempo, masquerading the serious negative effects of
Henry’s addiction and instead reflecting his enthusiasm and the rush of enjoyment his games
give him. The melody is infectious and bears similarities to actual video game music; the chords
go up as Henry describes his scores rising. However, the key changes from major to minor and
the tempo slows when Henry begins to confront the realities of his addiction; the music begins to
betray the sad reality of his situation. The background chorus, too, changes in accordance with
this tonal shift. The chorus becomes steady and droning, evoking the image of someone who has
been doing something, like playing video games, for hours on end. At the last verse, the chorus
drops out. Henry sings “I suspect deep down/I don’t care if I die” entirely alone, as a musical
reflection of the depth of isolation he has reached due to his addiction. All of the songs in Octet
share this level of musical richness, and Malloy consistently makes musical choices that
compound the meaning of his work. The verse that precedes the climax of “Refresh,” Jessica’s
song about her experience being publicly shamed online, features an almost cacophonous chorus
in the background, suggestive of the whirl of negative comments Jessica has been reading. Such
musical features are innovative in the way Malloy uses them to underscore tone. Some musical
choices even reinforce characterization; Marvin’s emotional crisis and the way that he is
paralyzed by his intellect are reflected in the fact that he does not sing at all throughout his
feature song, “Little God.” Key changes, especially between major and minor keys, indicate
tonal shifts that might not always be apparent lyrically, or reinforce the ones that are. “Actually”
begins in a major key, corresponding well with Toby’s defiant and aggressive tone. The key
becomes minor when the chorus sings “through the looking glass/focus/expand your thinking,”
and the haunting and mysterious tone that is only vaguely suggested by the lyrics is much more
apparent from the music. The key changes again as Toby engages in arguments online; the tone
becomes more intense, but the new key is still minor, corresponding to the fact that the tone
remains dark. Minor keys tend to signify a negative tone of some kind. “Actually” ends with the
same melody it began with, but in a minor rather than major key, intensifying the dark spiral
Toby has gone through and the way he has reinforced his own beliefs. The way that Malloy’s
orchestrations further develop the tone and ideas of the songs in Octet is unique to the medium
he writes for, and it demonstrates his original style and the way that style develops the richness
of his work.
Octet exhibits innovation through Malloy’s musical style and the way it conveys themes,
tone, and characterization through its score, and this innovative use of music is indicative of its
merit. The a cappella aspect of the musical furthers many of its core ideas and is a unique
presentation of the material that utilizes the human voice in inventive ways. For these reasons,
Octet meets the “innovative” criteria of literary merit not just by painting a uniquely complex
image of the digital era, but also by the style and use of its musical elements.
V. Song Analyses
Malloy uses a variety of poetic devices throughout the songs of Octet, and his lyricism
reveals his stylistic originality as much as his score does. Octet’s lyrics are on par with canonical
poetry. The majority of Octet’s songs center one of the eight characters, and Malloy’s music and
poetic strategies develop their characterizations, struggles, and the themes they exemplify. The
cast album of Octet has twelve tracks, three of which- “Refresh”, “Glow”, and “Solo”- hold up
as the best examples of Malloy’s effective songwriting.
“Refresh”
This song, sung by Jessica, is the first of the personal accounts in Octet. “Refresh”
focuses on Jessica’s experience going viral in a decidedly negative way, and her obsession with
the attention that resulted from it. This song and Jessica’s character function as illustrations of
the harmful effects of Internet shaming. The title of the song refers to Jessica’s specific addictive
behavior: refreshing pages online to read each new, cruel thing written about her.
At the beginning of the song, Jessica refers to her “incident,” but the nature of it remains
unspecified beyond when she says to the rest of the group, “you’ve all seen my ‘white woman
goes crazy’ video.” It is kept deliberately ambiguous what Jessica was cancelled over, what
exactly her “incident” was. Malloy consciously obscures what Jessica was ostracized for, with an
intended purpose. Specifically, Jessica’s exact actions remain unknown so that the audience
cannot judge her for it; specificity would allow the audience to conclude that her shaming and
ostracization may have been deserved, and therefore detract from the central idea of the song.
Since what she did is unknown, however, it is far easier for the audience to sympathize with her,
and the ability to sympathize with the characters of Octet is key to its effectiveness at conveying
its themes.
It is revealed that Jessica was unaware when her incident occurred that she was being
filmed, as is the case for most people with experiences such as hers. She sees the video for the
first time on social media, before her name has been tied to it, and recognizes herself. This
prompts her to begin reading the comments people have made on the video, and her descent into
the self-destructive rabbit hole has begun.
The verse that follows after Jessica has recognized herself in the video is a description of
her addictive behavior that the video has spurred. The lyrics “click swipe fuck click/swipe fuck
click swipe/fuck click swipe fuck” are in a 4/4 time signature, and due to the repitition of three
words in this rhythm a different word is accented each time. This is a subtle, aural way that
Malloy invokes the idea of variable schedule reward systems, which facilitate addiction and are
more directly referenced later in the musical by Karly in “Solo.” This allusion further illustrates
the addictive nature of Jessica’s behavior, and the similarities between her addiction and that of
the other characters, and to a broader point addiction in general.
 Jessica continues to describe the way she became fixated on reading the things people
wrote about her online, describing it as an act of “morbid flagellation.” This description makes
the severity of the comments more apparent, as well as suggesting that Jessica may think of
herself, on some level, as deserving of the cruelty of online strangers as some form of
punishment, since the word “flagellation” tends to have a connotation of punishment. She calls
the people demeaning her online “small,” but then says, “every voice is equal/every voice gets
in,” showing that she recognizes how minimal each individual comment is, but that they still
each affect her greatly. Furthermore, this can show how the people who attack people who have
been cancelled online often think of their comments as “small” and insignificant, and are
unaware of how the condemned person may be affected by them. As she recounts her
experience, the background chorus sings the word “refresh” repeatedly, conveying the actions
Jessica describes even further as well as heightening the tension of the scenario. The way that
Jessica becomes obsessed with reading this comments, despite their negativity, shows how
desperate she is to experience emotion even if it hurts, and how much she craves something
resembling connection in the midst of ostracization.
The “click swipe fuck click” melody recurs, after which Jessica describes being
recognized from the video and the fallout that resulted. After her name is connected to the
woman in the video, she says that she is “reborn as an icon/for awfulness and hate.” Her
response to the mounting online vitriol is going “to the forest.” In Octet, “the forest” is a
metaphor referring to a state of mind untainted by technology. Therefore, this statement can be
interpreted as Jessica logging off for a while, and this is a cleansing and restorative experience
for her. The word “refresh” reoccurs at this point in the song, but with a different meaning than
before. Rather than referring to refreshing a social media page, it now describes how her time
away from social media makes her feel- refreshed.
When Jessica returns from her self-imposed Internet exile, she is met with no more
kindness than before. This portrays a problem inherent to “cancel culture,” that people who are
condemned by the social media mob have no opportunity to explain themselves or be forgiven.
This is what differentiates cancelling from good faith criticism; criticism is suggestions for
improvement, while cancelling is a condemnation. Jessica identifies and experiences firsthand
another, adjacent problem: the people deriding her online “don’t fucking know [her] at all.” The
video posted online and the attacks she has received because of it are devoid of any context.
Jessica’s Internet shaming also impacts her so-called real life and her face-to-face
interactions with people. The way she has been ostracized online extends to the real world, and
forming new relationships is difficult even in person rather than online. This illustrates one of the
core themes about technology that Malloy incorporates into Octet, that our digital lives have very
real, non-negligible effects that we are often negligent of. Jessica also suggests that technology
affects how we connect with others. The entire song focuses on the theme of our need for
connection and how the Internet influences it, but at the end of her personal account, Jessica
acknowledges this idea directly. Specifically, Jessica considers that technology has warped our
already flawed ability to empathize, saying “this all happened so fast/too fast for our fledgling
empathy/the tech got away from us/and we weren’t ready.”
 As a song, “Refresh” explores the detrimental effects of the Internet phenomenon of
cancel culture and how it, and technology in general, can be legitimately harmful in how
isolating it is. “Refresh” delves into Jessica’s character, which serves as one of several examples
in Octet of how deeply humans need connection and community, and Malloy uses a variety of
techniques- aural and poetic- to convey these messages.
“Glow”
“Glow” is the individual song sung by Paula, the support group’s leader. She is, like the
rest of the musical’s characters, an addict, but the song focuses more on her husband’s addiction
than her own. Their technological addictions have hurt their marriage and driven a wedge in their
relationship.
The song begins with Paula establishing a scene; she is in bed with her husband. The
second verse details Paula and her husband’s breathing, but the description has a more
metaphorical meaning. Paula says that “whatever he is putting out/I breathe in,” meaning that her
husband’s behaviors also affect her. This likely refers specifically to his technology use, that her
husband constantly being on his phone fuels Paula’s own technology addiction. Her husband has
her back to her as they lie in bed, indicative of the lack of connection between them. In the fifth
verse, the reason for this is brought up directly; her husband is scrolling through his phone.
When Paula says that “his gestures echo through [her]/like a soulquake,” it evokes the anguish
that the emotional distance between them causes her, and emphasizes technology as the cause or
perhaps simply just an aspect of that distance.
Paula evokes a web of symbolism with the phrase “the moon is gone.” The Moon is the
tarot card embodied in the musical’s opening hymn, “The Forest,” and, as previously discussed,
the “forest” which that song focuses on is a symbol for life outside of the Internet and
technology. The moon being absent for Paula and her husband is a metaphorical way that Malloy
conveys their inability to see life beyond their technology.
Her and her husband’s addictions have also caused them insomnia. When she refers to
“the sallow blue glow of a screen/sucking our souls and melatonin,” she references a legitimate
problem with scientific evidence. Octet primarily focuses on the emotional and spiritual impacts
of technology, but here Malloy references something physical; blue light from LED screens like
those of cell phones inhibit production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep.
Additionally, with the phrase “sucking our souls and melatonin,” the physical problem is linked
to something spiritual. In the same verse, the phrase “all of my dreams have been stolen” holds a
double meaning. This refers to literal dreams, since her use of technology has made Paula unable
to sleep well, as well as her dreams of a loving marriage.
Paula’s reflections in this song also reflect the notion demonstrated by Jessica as well as
other characters that negative emotions and interactions are preferable to none at all. This arises
when she expresses a desire that her husband would “break down on the bed” and the two of
them would fight, rather than the current state of things where they don’t speak to each other.
One of Octet’s major themes is that humans desire connections with one another that generate
emotion, to the point that destructive connections are preferable to a lack of connection. Paula
expresses this about her relationship with her husband quite clearly; they have lost their intimacy
and their emotionality- their addiction is “flattening [their] heartbeats”- and Paula would fight
with him to get back something close to it.
Paula’s husband embodies, at least from the things Paula says about him and the
specificities of his addiction, the conflict between the vastness of information and news that the
Internet makes available, and one’s struggle to retain their emotionality. Paula’s husband has
sacrificed the latter in favor of the former, and Paula seems to suffer from it. She wishes that her
husband would “just let something go,” paying more attention to her and less to the “tragedies,
catastrophes/nightmare, horrors, heartbreaks, extremes” that he reads about on his phone. While
her husband is inviting the world’s suffering into their bed, as she describes it, she finds herself
unable to handle it. Her husband’s informational technology addiction has already deprived him
of his emotionality and self, and taken him from her, and Paula finds herself in danger of losing
her own sanity to it as well.
The song shifts about ¾ of the way through from Paula referring to her husband in the
third person to second person, addressing him directly. The song ends with Paula asking him,
“Oh babe, where did you go?”, three times, emphasizing her pain and feeling that she has lost
him. This song explores Octet’s themes about connection from another perspective, detailing the
use of technology not as a tool for forging relationships or as a surrogate for them, but as
something destructive to them.
“Solo”
This song begins as Karly’s personal account, and explores how technology affects sex
and romance. The two characters in this song- Karly and Ed- and their experiences strengthen the
themes of Octet, most evidently the themes pertaining to the need for meaningful relationships.
“Solo” confronts those issues as well as others such as the construction of identity online and the
way technology affects social- and romantic and sexual- interactions.
The title of the song, “Solo,” is ironic in a sense. It is, in fact, not a solo. All of the other
songs that are personal accounts rather than group numbers focus on only one of the characters,
while “Solo” features two of them. Rather than describing the nature of the song, the word “solo”
refers to the state that both Karly and Ed, the characters that sing the song, are in; they are both
feeling lonely and isolated and this is the source of their addictions.
Karly begins the song by reading messages received on dating apps, introducing the fact
that this is her particular addiction. As Karly reads these messages, Ed laments the state of his
life. The specificities of his addiction are unclear at this point, but the focus that the entire
musical has on relationships and isolation already comes through, as he describes his lack of
meaningful relationships and states that “nobody loves me.” The focus shifts briefly to be
entirely on Karly as she describes her “infinite scroll,” but she and Ed share their time fairly
equally throughout the song. Karly uses several similes in describing her addiction to dating
apps, one of which being that the apps are “like candy.” This is a callback to Henry’s addiction,
to candy-related video games, and underscores the similarity between addictions and suggests
they may have similar underlying causes.
When the song’s focus shifts back to Ed, he describes an experience with human
connection in an unlikely place: the self-service checkout at the drugstore. This is ironic, since
self-service checkouts typically have the opposite effect and limit human interaction, but Ed has
a brief glimpse out of his isolation because of it. This irony, as well as Ed’s excitement over such
a brief interaction, convey to the audience the depths of Ed’s isolation with some element of
humor. In some senses, the way Ed talks about his loneliness makes him seem like a parody of
the incels that are later referenced; “incel,” short for involuntary celibate, refers to men of a
certain subsect online who create identities around their lack of sexual success and suffer from
low self-esteem, but are also aggressively misogynistic. Ed is clearly intended as one of these
men, and he serves to illustrate one way that online experience can affect identity. Ed’s lack of
romantic or sexual success has pushed him to toxic Internet communities which led him to
construct a new identity that is oriented around the self-loathing he espouses earlier in the song.
When Ed sings, “I feel my body stretched between two cliffs,” the humor of the previous verse
vanishes and the tone darkens. Malloy does not portray Ed as a parody despite how simple it
would be to do so, because the themes Ed exemplifies are conveyed more effectively when he is
sympathetic. The humor injects some levity into an otherwise dark subject, but at this point in the
song it is clear that Ed’s situation is dark and not particularly humorous. Ed shows his
vulnerability in this verse, forcing the audience to reevaluate him and empathize.
When the focus returns to Karly, she talks about her mother, who is a gambler. Here she
makes an implicit comparison between her mother and herself, likening her dating apps to the
slot machines her mother is addicted to. She references “variable schedule rewards,” which both
dating apps and slot machines use and which is what makes them so addictive. Once again,
Malloy is highlighting the similarities between various addictions. Karly also says that her habit
makes her lonely; dating apps seem like they would foster connections, but for Karly it is the
opposite. Her problem demonstrates the cyclical nature of both addiction and the desire for
connection. She begins using these apps in an attempt to find a relationship, because she is
lonely, but her lack of success exacerbates her loneliness, which prompts her to continue using
the app and searching for that connection she needs.
The song shifts back to Ed, and both the tone and the subject change, when Karly makes
a reference to porn. Here, it becomes apparent that Ed is a pornography addict. Pornography
addiction, Ed says, is often dismissed or made the subject of a joke rather than taken as a serious
issue. As someone who deals with it himself, Ed is acutely aware of how porn can affect the
human psyche, but he makes disclaimers and says that “I support sex workers, and sex
positivity,” because often, criticism of pornography is monopolized by right-wing evangelicals
who are not in the least sex positive. Additionally, it can be inferred based on Ed’s earlier
comments that for him, pornography is a replacement for a real relationship. He deeply craves
connection- it’s clear that it isn’t just about sex for him- but in the absence of it he watches
pornography, despite his recognition of its problems. Karly expresses that she used to enjoy
porn, but quickly becomes critical of it. When she laments that “we have sucked the sacrament
out of sex,” she refers to how pornography not only portrays sex inaccurately, but is also devoid
of feeling or the spirituality that she associates with sex. Porn, then, is both a replacement for
meaningful connection as it is for Ed, and another way that technology, especially in excess, can
warp our reality and our ability to relate and experience emotion; both of these notions about
pornography relate back to some of the musical’s previously discussed major themes. A specific
issue with pornography, referenced by Karly, is that it fuels male entitlement. Malloy
incorporates real examples of the misogyny that men have espoused towards women online,
which show how the anonymity of the Internet can remove our compassion as well as how toxic
masculinity easily foments in certain online circles.
Karly expresses her fear of confronting or challenging this online misogyny, a fear that
many women actually experience. The concern is that rejection may push these men even deeper
into their toxicity and turning them to things like the previously described incel communities,
which Ed then discusses directly. He describes their toxic ideology and confesses that he “feels
the pull” of it. When Karly sings again, she repeats a verse initially sung by Ed: “I feel my body
stretched between two cliffs/one side is fantasy/the other reality/I feel my fingers start to lose
their grip/and I can’t hold on.” This repetition of Ed’s verse by Karly connects them and shows
that, despite how they are often positioned as opposing sides (especially online), they both want
the same things- particularly, they both crave a meaningful relationship.
In “Solo,” Malloy uses the characters of Karly and Ed to confront the very real, very
relevant issues of online male toxicity and how the Internet generates harmful ideas about sex.
The song illustrates several of Octet’s themes, like how identities are shaped in toxic ways
online, and how deeply humans crave meaningful connections.
VI. Conclusion
While it is a musical rather than a conventional work of literature, Dave Malloy’s Octet
meets all of the requirements of an updated concept of literary merit. The musical is thematically
rich, exploring nuanced perspectives on things like technology, community and isolation,
identity, spirituality, and the conflict between emotionality and knowledge. Malloy’s style is
unique and innovative; he utilizes his music as well as poetic techniques within his lyrics to
convey these themes and other ideas in the musical. Octet is also a definitional piece of art for
our current moment in time; Malloy also innovates by portraying the issues of the digital age
complexly and effectively.
Many of the requirements of the standard definition of literary merit are extraneous, as
has been argued. Upon reevaluation, the only necessary criteria for defining literary merit are
that the work displays both thematic depth and originality. The requirement for originality and
innovation may be satisfied if the work utilizes its stylistic elements in an innovative and
unconventional way, if the work introduces a new and/or underrepresented perspective, or if the
work revolutionizes the way that a particular time or place is represented in art. Octet meets both
of these criteria. The musical has several themes, each of which are handled and explored with
nuance. In addition to their complexity, the themes of Octet also ask major questions for the
audience to deal with, as works in the literary canon do: “How do we connect with our fellow
humans in the age of the Internet?” or “How does one balance their intellectual and emotional
selves?” Octet also meets the innovation requirement in not just one, but two of the potential
ways of doing so. The first is through its style; Malloy demonstrates a unique style, especially
musically, and uses his musical choices to underscore themes, tones, and characterizations. He
does this same thing with the poetic techniques he utilizes in the lyrics of Octet’s songs. The
other way that the criteria for innovation is satisfied by Octet is how it captures the digital age
and the problems unique to it. Malloy portrays many of the issues of modern life effectively and
shows how technology pervades the lives of people today in ways that media has thus failed to
depict. All of these criteria being met, Dave Malloy’s Octet clearly belongs within the literary
canon.