Is there some sort of historical lesson in this?

Started my Native American unit today. And, sadly to say it doesn't seem to be going that well. I figure I have had so much to say, that a lot of times I just seem to ramble in front the class. They have been able to see my enthusiasm for the topic which I hope they get into, but content wise it is a little all over the place.

For my first period class, I told them "it's been two months since the start of school, I know all your names, so I figure at this point you can sit where you want." Then the kids moved around, spread out throughout the room. As I got going, I kept eliminating rows that they would have been able to sit in: can't sit in the back row, or side rows, or front row. Soon they were all boxed in together and I told them that they had to move all the desks closer to each other. They started to complain and whine about being so close to each other. One girl goes, "is this just like that fiancee story? Is this meant to be some historical lesson?" It was. I just yelled, "RESERVATION SYSTEM!" and tried to start a discussion about what it felt to be boxed in and so on. They didn't get into it because they were too upset about me moving seats around in the first place.

Oh well.