Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The House of the Scorpion, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Free Will vs. Predetermination
Scientific Ethics and Abuse
Language, Law, and Dehumanization
Abuse of Power and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
María comes to Matt’s room and scolds him for hiding in his den like an animal when it’s El Patrón’s birthday. Matt hates to see how frail El Patrón is because he loves the old man. Recently, all El Patrón says is, “Am I dead yet?” Celia gets Matt ready for the party and tells him if anything goes wrong tonight, he should come to her immediately.
El Patrón’s repetition of “Am I dead yet?” shows his fear of death, which increases with his deteriorating mental facilities. This explains why there are elaborate statues of babies outside of the Big House—El Patrón is seemingly obsessed with youth and his own mortality. Meanwhile, Celia’s warning to Matt hints that she is aware of something sinister that may happen at the party.
Themes
Matt accompanies María to her room because she wants to bring Furball to the party. But Tom is already in María’s room and Furball is missing. The three of them search all over the room but cannot find the dog. Finally, Matt hears whimpering from the bathroom and finds Furball underneath the toilet lid. Matt knows Tom tried to drown the dog, but as usual, Tom acts innocent. Matt knows there’s nothing he can do to punish Tom since he himself is just a clone, but he also hopes tonight might be different.
Matt’s frustration over his inability to accuse Tom shows Matt’s increasing conflict with his independent desires and his oppressed status as a clone. Matt’s hope for the night of the birthday party, however, suggests that he has plans to challenge the power dynamic that considers him beneath such an immoral person as Tom.
Themes
El Patrón’s birthday is also a celebration of Matt. Everyone, even Tom, has to be nice for him. The lawn is lavishly decorated for the party with a table set with gold and silver. Outside, there is a stack of presents for El Patrón. Politicians, actors, generals, and the Farmers (the aristocrats of the country) attend the party. Matt sees a red-haired man, who María tells him is the powerful Farmer, Mr. MacGregor.
The description of the expensive party decorations and the famous and powerful guests shows both El Patrón’s wealth and his political power. Matt’s inclusion in the party is an example of how El Patrón expects others to treat Matt well—not because Matt is an individual who is worthy of respect, but because he is an extension of El Patrón himself.
Themes
To the party’s delight and surprise, El Patrón walks in, no longer in a wheelchair. Matt hears someone call El Patrón a vampire. Having made his entrance, El Patrón sits down in a wheelchair beside Mr. MacGregor. He welcomes everyone to his 143rd birthday party. He then awards $1 million checks to the doctors who helped him walk again. He calls Matt to come stand by him.
El Patrón’s regained ability to walk, thanks to the doctors he rewards, shows the almost miraculous accomplishments he is able to make with medical advancements. Yet the accusation of El Patrón being a vampire suggests there is something unnatural and monstrous about his efforts to cheat the aging process.
Themes
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El Patrón tells the crowd of guests about how, on one Cinco de Mayo as a child, he and his family attended a parade. The mayor threw coins at the poor townspeople to watch them scramble. After the parade, the ranchero who owned their land held a big feast for the poor, where El Patrón’s little sisters caught typhoid and later died. In the following years, all of El Patrón’s brothers also died young, leaving El Patrón the only one of his siblings still alive today.
The mayor throwing coins to the poor shows how the powerful can use their status to abuse the oppressed. Both the wealth of the mayor and the rancher show the intense inequality under which El Patrón grew up. El Patrón wields the narrative of his childhood tragedies to highlight the accomplishment of surviving to such an advanced age.
Themes
