In the Stockyards, workers coming off shift, overwhelmingly of the Roman faith, able to detach from earth and blood for a few precious seconds, looked up at the airship in wonder, imagining a detachment of not necessarily helpful angels.
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There's a lot to un(meat)pack in this one! Ha ha!
I grew up areligious so I've always had a tough time distinguishing the differences of all the various types of Christianity. So labeling the workers "of the Roman faith" probably expresses something that my non-religious upbringing and ignorance of various faiths occludes from my view. But it seems to me it's just part of the pessimism of these poor workers. It's also probably a means to describe them, from an oblique angle, as immigrants.
So here we have some workers leaving the blood and the stench and the mud and the mortality of the Stockyards gaining a moment to look up at a truly wonderous sight and then thinking, "Oh fuck. What now?" Instead of, you know, marveling at the glory of this passing airship.
At first I thought maybe it was something in Roman Catholicism that makes them think these descending angels were not beneficent. But then I talked over the ramifications of nationality and Victorian era Chicago and Roman Catholicism and the working class with the Non-Certified Spouse and came to the conclusion that all of this contributes to creating a person who would not assume a positive outcome in any situation.
Also maybe they just figured, "Whelp. Everything sucks and now it's Revelations time! I fucking knew it!"
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