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
Without visits from María, Matt’s days pass by with uninterrupted boredom. María and her sister, Emilia, now live and go to school in a convent. Matt wonders if María misses him or has forgiven him. The house is ghostly quiet without her or the other children.
Matt’s intense loneliness once again emphasizes his need for human contact and his desire to belong among his peers. Matt’s thoughts about María shows the special significance of her friendship to him.
Themes
One day, Matt goes to the stables to order a Safe Horse. An eejit brings the horse to him. Matt realizes with terror that the eejit is Rosa, only now her face lacks all cruelty. She shuffles off without acknowledging her past relationship with Matt. Matt realizes how terrible of a fate becoming an eejit is, after seeing how bland Rosa is compared to her former angry, violent self.
Matt rides out into the poppy fields. Here, the plants are still young and short. He sees a few eejits weeding the fields. He wonders what would happen if they all woke up suddenly and attacked him, but he knows the eejits will never do anything except what their master orders them to do. Matt looks for the house he used to live in with Celia, but it’s gone.
Matt’s thought of the eejits rebelling shows that he now recognizes how the eejits suffer injustices worth revolting against. This realization implies that he may come to feel the same way about himself and other clones as he learns more about their societal function. The disappearance of Celia’s house symbolizes the loss of Matt’s innocence now that he is more aware of the injustices of his society.
Themes
After the fields, Matt goes to the oasis. He orders the horse to drink and tells it to stop in the shade. He walks into the mountains alone for the first time. The oasis is bare and lonely in the dry season. As he eats lunch, he discovers a man-made arbor. There, he spots a large metal chest, along with a blanket and water bottles. Matt wonders who could have left all these supplies behind, as it couldn’t have been an eejit or an immigrant on the run.
Matt asserts his free will by going to the oasis alone. However, the barren atmosphere of the oasis represents Matt’s loneliness without Tam Lin to accompany him. The mysterious appearance of the metal chest suggests the oasis will have greater significance for Matt than just a recreational area.
Themes
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Matt opens the chest and finds it filled with many packages. He finds a letter addressed to him, from Tam Lin. The letter, written in misspelled, messy handwriting, explains that Tam Lin left this chest behind in case Matt should ever need it after Tam Lin returns to El Patrón. Matt opens the packages, which are filled with dried food and other camping supplies. At the bottom of the chest, Matt finds a few books, including one entitled A History of Opium.
Tam Lin’s letter reveals that he suspects one day Matt may need the supplies to survive in the wild, suggesting Tam Lin is aware of a danger that Matt and the reader are not. The inclusion of books shows Tam Lin’s continued dedication to educating Matt beyond his societally-approved education.
Themes
Matt returns home and finds servants running around and hovercrafts landing. Celia tells him that El Viejo has died. Matt doesn’t mourn the man because he barely knew him, but Celia seems distressed. She takes him to the salon of the house, which has been decorated with hundreds of candles for the funeral. At least 50 people are gathered around the coffin.
Celia’s distress suggests she is upset by something larger than the death of a member of the family. The large number of candles and people at the funeral shows how seriously the family considers death to be.
Themes
Inside the coffin, El Viejo’s body looks like an emaciated bird. Celia cries. Matt sees Benito, Steven, and Emilia. MacGregor arrives, looking much younger than when Matt saw him before. Matt wishes he could leave the hot, smoky room. María enters, looking much more grown up. Matt marvels at how beautiful she is, and then realizes she’s holding hands with Tom.
Celia cries because she is an empathetic character who feels sympathy for the dead man, regardless of the cruelty of the family that she has witnessed in the Big House. MacGregor’s youthful appearance suggests the effectiveness of the medical procedures he underwent at the estate’s hospital, and is an unnatural contrast to El Viejo’s natural death which exemplifies science’s potential to cheat the aging process. Matt’s acknowledgement of María’s beauty shows how both characters have matured since they last saw each other, and that they are beginning to transition out of childhood.
Themes
El Patrón, Tam Lin, and Mr. Alacrán arrive at the funeral. Mr. Alacrán is the only person there who appears truly sad. Matt wants to thank Tam Lin for leaving the chest but knows he cannot mention it in public. A priest enters with a children’s choir, who sing in perfect, sweet voices because they are all eejits. Matt looks into their eyes and sees only emptiness. The children hold perfectly still as the priest commands them.
Mr. Alacrán expresses genuine emotion in a very insincere family. The knowledge that children can also become eejits further emphasizes the cruelty of this scientific process. Matt specifically notices that the children are robbed of their ability to enjoy music, which is significant because creating music is what validates Matt’s own humanity.
Themes
At the priest’s invitation, Mr. Alacrán says a few words for El Viejo, his departed father. Then everyone lines up to say their goodbyes to the body. Celia makes Matt get in line. As Matt approaches the body, the priest begins yelling at him, tell him he does not belong there, just like a dog doesn’t belong in church. Celia says El Patrón wants Matt at the funeral. María appears suddenly and argues that Saint Francis brought a wolf to church. The priest debates her, saying Saint Francis preached to a wolf outside of a church. María defiantly takes Matt’s hand and leads him out of the salon.
The priest’s outrage at Matt shows how one can use religion to justify discrimination against those who are different from the majority. María’s example of Saint Francis presents how, by contrast, religious rhetoric can also be used to uplift the oppressed. María’s defense of Matt shows how her character has developed in her time away from the estate to become more rebellious against the injustices of her society.
Themes
María takes Matt, who is in a daze, into the music room. She complains about how El Patrón won’t allow air conditioning anywhere in the house. Matt is still overwhelmingly happy María is talking to him. María hugs and kisses him, saying she missed him and has forgiven him. Matt asks her why she avoided him after seeing MacGregor’s clone. She says she can’t tell him, because people might be listening out in the hallway. Matt leads her into the secret passage.
María’s complaints about El Patrón show how she is beginning to question what is wrong or illogical about authority figures. María’s conflict over MacGregor’s clone suggests she knows more about clones than Matt and is tormented by the information she has. Her perception that she cannot speak freely in public also shows that she senses the truth is dangerous.
Themes
