Chapter Text
Is it really that surprising to go back on the bus and find a mysterious textbook sitting there-- right there, where Manager Dante usually sits?
Amid the chaos of The City: the destruction, the sin, all everyone has been through with every single identity... this is what everyone is going ballistic about?
"Begin by explaining that context is much like the set of a play or movie..." Faust reads, analyzing the first page with her typical neutrality. "Ask students
to imagine watching their favorite movie with the actors performing the entire script in front of a plain white background."
"What have you! I must have this strange piece of literature!" Faust barely manages to wave the book away from Don Quixote, who has burst through the crowd of stunned Sinners to try and snatch it away. "What in the world is a United States, and what have you to do with its history?!"
Don springs at the book again, causing Faust to toss it at an idle Ryoshu on the opposite side of the bus.
She catches it immediately and begins to inspect it. "A.S.T.C.T.S..."
"Whatever could that possibly mean?" Hong Lu murmurs.
"Going so mad over a single bloody book! If only Dante could see how maddening you all are over some words on an bloody page!" Heathcliff folds his arms, watching Don scramble over to Ryoshu's side. Heathcliff looks over to Mersault, who stares judgmentally back given Heathcliff's affinity for Jane Eyre.
"Ask students to complete the following sentence frame?" Sinclair looks up to the swordswoman, stepping to her side before taking a look at the book as well.
"Astute," Ryoshu nods, handing him the book: what would she need it for, anyhow?
"Read the sentence frame, you kindred spirit Sinclair! I must receive all the knowledge contained within such a fine hardcover specimen!" Don cries, peering behind him.
Sinclair's eyes widen before he sputters out the sentence frame. "The period of 1491-1607 in America history is an age of --there is a blank here-- because --another blank here--."
"Ah, me! America!" Don's eyes glitter. Rodion swaggers over to her side and hums.
"America... I've heard about such a place," she nods. "I... believe I knew someone who went there."
"So what happened between this 1491 and 1607?" Sinclair tilts his head.
"I... am not sure."
"Faust knows," Faust resists the urge to smirk. "I can tell y--"
"Ishmael!" Rodion beckons the sailor over. "You know about this 'America', yes? Do you know about its history as well?"
"Oh," Ishmael blinks, breaking away from an argument with Heathcliff over some classic literature. "I do. What about it?"
"The period of 1491-1607. What do you know about it?" Rodion clarifies.
"Hmm," Ishmael's eyes drift to the floor. "Well, in order to figure that out... I guess I should start with America before colonization."
Don sits at Ishmael's shoes. "I am ready to be bestowed upon with thy knowledge, o good and just woman!"
"Good and just!" Heathcliff hisses, but for some reason, he also sits beside Don. "America is no good and just country-!"
"Once upon a time, America was inhabited by a variety of Native American societies throughout the continent. Some had continually inhabited communities, such as the Pueblo. Other communities were nomadic and hunted buffalo, like those in Great Plains: the Sioux. Depending on their region, some tribes hunted for salmon and some opted for planting crops like the 'Three Sisters' crops: maize, squash, and beans." Ishmael began.
"Are they still there?" Don raises her hand.
"Well, of course they are. But their population is much, much smaller now, I think..."
"Why?"
"In 1492 this man named Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain to look for India..." Ishmael's eyes dim. "The goal of the Spanish colonists could be summed in three things: gold, God, and glory. Still, guess what Columbus found instead of India."
"America," Heathcliff flatly answers.
"Yes. And guess what this led to."
"A senseless slaughter," Ryoshu answers, lowering the cigarette from her mouth.
"To be more specific," Ishmael folds her arms. "It led to the Columbian Exchange: Europe received tomatoes, potatoes, corn while America got sugar cane, cattle, and coffee beans. And... America got a lot of European diseases."
"S.I.M," Ryoshu remarks.
"How does she know this?" Sinclair whispers to Mersault.
"Smallpox, influenza, and measles," Mersault looks down at him. "Why are you surprised that Ryoshu knows about diseases?"
Sinclair goes quiet.
"This led to en masse deaths for Native Americans communities throughout America," Ishmael frowns. "While these deaths occured, the encomienda system enacted by the Spanish forced those who were alive to do labor such as gold and silver mining. In the 1500s, Native American labor was replaced with that of enslaved African people. A caste system formed: those who were from Spain or of Spanish descent were to be treated with higher status."
Don is horrified.
"Please don't tell me other European colonies did the same thing..." Sinclair is equally disgusted.
"Just you wait," Faust mumbles.
"Well, aside from the Spanish... there were other European colonies as well. For example, in the Northern areas (think the border of Canada) the French and Algonquin-speaking tribes engaged in the fur trade. They co-existed together: French traders learned the language and intermarried, for example."
Some of the Sinners' gazes moved to Mersault. He says nothing.
"And the British?" Gregor's gaze drifts to Heathcliff.
"Oh," a sardonic smile forms on Ishmael's lips as she glares down at Heathcliff. "Queen Elizabeth I, after some convincing, sent out colonists to America to make a profit. However, initial settlements failed until 1607: Jamestown. It succeeded with the aid of Powhatan Confederacy and made tobacco for its economy."
Ryoshu inspects her cigarette.
"So... if I'm getting this right... these three countries had different reasons for coming to America?" Sinclair takes a seat on the floor, next to Don and Heathcliff.
"Yes," Ishmael nods. "Care to recap for Heathcliff over there?"
"I was bloody listenin'!" he growls, snapping up his copy of Pride and Prejudice. "Brits came to the land for money, the French came for money too, and the Spanish came for money three!"
"Basically," Outis hums.
"Faust would like to note how you have neglected the Dutch as well," Faust adds. "They used the system of patroonships to get land from Natives to give them to colonists. However, other colonies, such as the Pilgrims, came for religious freedom rather than money, or, in the case of the Spanish, fame--"
"But nay-- the kind of glory my fellow Spaniards sought is nothing short of injustice prancing around as heroism!" Don furiously rises, peering at the textbook. "Please note that I, Don Quixote, would never tolerate such bruta--"
"Thank you, Don Quixote," everyone says in unison. Except Dante, who is still off the bus, searching for a toilet.