Page 353 begins by finishing up an idea started on the previous page. The guards who condescendingly look down on the Old Villagers view them with pity, but only until those people begin to get in the way. At that point, it is necessary to chase them back to their pointless village with a gun. This final note shows just how little the industrialists care about the indigenous people that they uproot in their quest for modernity.

FXC leaves a footnote here about how much Straka disliked “imperial outsiders” who were so exasperatingly condescending towards indigenous people, all whilst bringing them nothing but disease and death. Straka is setting up industrialists versus indigenous people as a straightforward battle of good versus evil.

When S gets out of the boat, he takes the poison that he needs from the valise and follows marks in the bark of the trees that resembles a monkey’s face. As he cruises through the woods he notes that it is interesting how there may be someone watching him, but he doesn’t care, because he is so experienced and skilled at moving through the woods without being noticed that there is no risk of him being caught. This is his identity now, regardless of his old identity from before he washed up in the Old Quarter.

This is one of the few pages in the entire text of “Ship of Theseus” with absolutely no marks from Jen and Eric in the margins-