A View of Nancy Farmer’s Depiction of the Personality of the Character Matteo Alacran, In Her Book, The House of the Scorpion
The House of the Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer, is the story of Matteo Alacran who actually is a clone of a powerful drug lord, El Patron. Matt is despised by everyone in his family except the drug lord himself in which he loves him as a pet. Cecilia is his caretaker in the “Big House”, and Matt is restricted from seeing other children. He is treated harshly by the Alacran’s until El Patron shows up and is infuriated at Matt’s living conditions; he orders that he be put in a room like everyone else. At this point in the book, the ethical question of Matt’s treatment is starting to come on the scene. Shortly after, Matt discovers a dead body in the Opium fields; in fact, he finds an eejit, a human slave with a computer chip in their brain. The concept of eejits was horrible; it took the very existence of being human and individual choice away. After El Patron’s death, Matt runs away to Aztlan, present-day Mexico, and finds an orphanage filled with communistic ‘Lost Boys’. Although, it is quite the contrary; the keepers lavish with a wide selection of delicacies while the Lost boys are limited to just plankton. Matt leads a rebellion against the keepers and destroys their tyrannical government. Nancy Farmer sent messages about how communistic experiments in the world today have failed to thrive due to corruption. Maria’s mother, Esperanza, is a champion of clones’ rights in the United States and tells Matt that with El Patron dead, Matt can officially take his place as the leader of Opium. Clones fighting for civil rights in the United States is a huge political and governmental step; through this book, clones are portrayed as an individual and thus be treated as such. Matt finally goes back to Opium with the intentions of shutting down Opium and reverting eejits back to humans.
Nancy Farmer wrote The House of the Scorpion to reiterate the belief that civil rights should be included to all human beings no matter their origin, in this case clones. Senator Mendoza is a clear example of this belief. He is the fictitious senator in the book that fights for clones’ need to be recognized as human beings and treated as such. Universal civil rights to all human beings was a major part of Nancy Farmer’s message, but she also juxtaposed several governments together. Opium’s government was tyrannical headed by El Patron. He even had human slaves with computer chips in their mind! The failed attempt at a communistic government was seen in the orphanage of the Lost Boys. The keepers were corrupted in their view on fairness. Then, the United States government is always in the background standing stable and secure. Our government is even portrayed as fighting for clones’ rights.
I believe Nancy Farmer’s assertions are valid because if a minority were to fight for civil rights America would be the leading candidate to start a movement. Although we are not quite on board with cloning ethically yet, Americans still believe in individualism, freedom, and equality, so clones should have the same rights and privileges as other humans. I highly recommend this book, because it is eye-opening and enlightening to think about such circumstances with civil rights. The book forces you to view the way you have treated others discriminately or not. The book’s message of civil rights will sound in your head days after you put it down. It has great insight on the human condition; also, it compares types of governments by setting them next to each other. I really enjoyed this book, and I believe anyone who picks it up will enjoy it just as much.
