すでに、二人は、アメリカ新大陸に到着している。
GeorgeWashingtonらしい人と面会したかと思ったら、
フランクリンが、電気の実験を見せ物にしているシーンが出てきた。
出てくるWikipediaの内容は、
独立戦争の時に活躍した英米系の軍人。
当時、アメリカ東部で有力を誇った宗教勢力の話。
wikipedia:Moravian Church

The Protestant Hussites were working for the provision of universal education, which was a particular challenge for the Catholics.[7] By the middle of the 16th century there was not a single town without a Protestant school in the Czech lands, and many had more than one, mostly with two to six teachers each. In Jihlava, a principal Protestant center in Moravia, there were six schools: two Czech, two German, one for girls and one teaching in Latin, which was at the level of a high / grammar school, lecturing on Latin, Greek and Hebrew, Rhetorics, Dialectics, fundamentals of Philosophy and fine arts, as well as religion according to the Lutheran Augustana.[6] With the University of Prague also firmly in hands of Protestants, the local Catholic church was unable to compete in the field of education. Therefore the Jesuits were invited, with the backing of the Catholic Habsburg rulers, to come to the Czech lands and establish a number of Catholic educational institutions, foremost the Academy in Prague and the Academy in Olomouc, Moravian capital.

東欧の歴史。
Protestantの走りとなる宗派が、布教の一貫として学校のネットワークを
構築していく。
政治権力の上層部がカトリック系(Hapsburg)になると、構築された
学校のネットワークを、カトリックの色に入れ替えるか、既存の学校を
葬り去る。
安心して、自分の生活の支えになる宗教を保持できなくなると
「新大陸へ」という流れ。
wikipedia:Pontiac's War

Pontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the Great Lakes region after the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). Warriors from numerous tribes joined the uprising in an effort to drive British soldiers and settlers out of the region. The war is named after the Ottawa leader Pontiac, the most prominent of many native leaders in the conflict.
The war began in May 1763 when Native Americans, offended by the policies of British General Jeffrey Amherst, attacked a number of British forts and settlements. Eight forts were destroyed, and hundreds of colonists were killed or captured, with many more fleeing the region. Hostilities came to an end after British Army expeditions in 1764 led to peace negotiations over the next two years. Native Americans were unable to drive away the British, but the uprising prompted the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict.
Warfare on the North American frontier was brutal, and the killing of prisoners, the targeting of civilians, and other atrocities were widespread. In what is now perhaps the best-known incident of the war, British officers at Fort Pitt attempted to infect the besieging Native Americans with smallpox using blankets that had been exposed to the virus. The ruthlessness and treachery of the conflict was a reflection of a growing divide between the separate populations of the British colonists and Native Americans. The British government sought to prevent further violence between the two by issuing the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which created a boundary between colonists and Native Americans. This proved unpopular with British colonists, and may have been one of the early contributing factors to the American Revolution.

新大陸で一発あてようとする植民地住民と、昔から新大陸に根城をはっていたアメリカ・インディアンの対立。
イギリス本国のために、新大陸の富を利用したいと考える人と、新大陸の発展をイギリス本国の意向から独立して、動かしたいという人の対立。
そもそも、どくを自分の王国の植民地にするのかで、イギリスとフランスが主役になって
世界中で対立しているという軸。
さらに、植民をしている人同士が、宗派の違いでギスギスしながら生活している。
色々な対立軸が錯綜している。
そこに「フィクション」が加わっていく。
扱われている時代においてアメリカ合衆国は存在していない。
だから、なおさら事実の推移をとらえることが難しいという面がある。
SaladBowlじゃないけど。いろいろなもののごった煮という感じ。
Thomas Pynchon
まさに、ピンチョンの「まなざし」がちらりとわかる、本人によるエッセー。
フランケンシュタイン」をはじめとするSF小説の源流がロボットや機械に対して
どういう洞察や態度をとってきたのかということを書いています。
Masonが「僕は望遠鏡をもって、新大陸へいく」と宣言するところと
なんらかのつながりがあるかもしれません。