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• 1 2015-09-24T11:02:59-07:00 Scene III: Flood of New Ideas 7 plain 2015-12-15T13:18:34-08:00 This scene begins with the building of the mission. This mission is massive in size and scale; not only does the mission sleep and house most of the population of Spaniards, it also is home to the work places of many of the native americans. The mission contains a 'sunken garden' which is protected by tall and wide walls and a gardener.  This garden contains fruits and vegetables of all kinds that are planted by the neophytes who labor in the missions. Though the neophytes are the people doing the strenuous labor, they are not granted access to the garden, and instead need to seek assistance from the Father when they want food. (Pablo Tac, page 17)
  
  In this scene, Coyote meets Atl. Atl's father is one of the original Spaniards who ventured into the Luiseno territory. Since this time, Atl's father, Juan, had impregnated a native woman, and their child was Alt. Though the Spaniards claimed to be helping and educating the native indians, they were also causing harm; there were hundreds of cases of rape and physical violence between the Spanish men and the native american women. This is contradictory to what the Spaniards were attempting to teach the Luisenos. 
  "'The soldiers,' they told me, 'are Christians and, although they know that God will punish them in Hell, do so, having sexual intercourse with our wives. We,' they said, 'although we did not know that God would punish us for that in Hell, considered it to be very bad, and we did not do it, and even less now that we know that God will punish us if we do so.'" (Chan and Olin, Major Problems in California History, "Father Luis Jayme Criticizes the Behavior of Spanish Soldiers, 1772, pg 60)
  Many of the Spanish men were hypocrites; they whipped and jailed the native people if they had unmarried sex or committed adultery, yet they did not follow their own rules. 
  Additionally, not all of this sex was consensual. In many cases, the Spanish men would rape and hurt the native american women. 
  "In the morning, six or seven soldiers would set out together... and go to the distant rancherias even many leagues away. When both men and women at the sight of them would take off running...the soldiers, adept as they are at lassoing cows and mules, would lasso Indian women-- who then became prey for their unbridled lust. Several Indian men who tried to defend the women were shot to death." (Chan and Olin, Major Problems in California, "Spanish Violence Against Amerindian Women", pg 75)
  
  This scene introduces the passionate love that Coyote and Alt feel for one another, but because they come from different heritages, they are not allowed to be together. Juan disapproves of Coyotes native religious values, and sees his natural leadership skills and charisma as a threat to the Spanish mission. The scene ends in with a depiction of Coyote asking Juan for Atl's hand in marriage and him agreeing, but only if Coyote is baptized and converted to catholicism...