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 leaves the estate and Matt feels lonely, even through he feels better knowing Tam Lin and María know the truth about Furball. He reads a book on Saint Francis. Saint Francis cared for everyone from criminals to insects. Matt thinks Saint Francis wouldn’t care for him because as a clone, Matt is not part of the natural world.
Matt has internalized the discrimination of his society to the point where he believes a historical figure who supposedly cared for every living being would not care for him. This shows Matt’s continued struggle for identity in a prejudiced society.
Themes
Matt always feels like he’s being watched within the house. He feels uncomfortable knowing Felicia maliciously hates him. Matt continues to go to the stables and attempts to talk to Rosa while she brings him his horse. He wonders if any part of her former personality is buried deep within her mind, but he never sees her act any differently from an eejit.
Matt shows he can choose to be compassionate by attempting to talk to Rosa and affirm her former humanity, even though she hurt him in the past. This demonstrates his refusal to adopt the prejudiced attitudes of his society, as he still views eejits as humans with individual personalities.
Themes
Matt rides his horse to the oasis. He thinks about how Saint Francis’s followers gave up all their possessions. Matt relaxes out at the oasis, knowing that none of the animals around him know he’s a clone. He begins to read the book, A History of Opium, that Tam Lin gave him.
Matt is beginning to perceive that there is no difference between humans and clones, as shown by his knowledge that animals cannot distinguish him from a human. Matt’s remembrance of Saint Francis giving up his possessions suggests Matt is beginning to question the materialism of his society.
Themes
According to The History of Opium, 100 years ago, the United States and Aztlán (which back then was known as Mexico), were in conflict about the thousands of undocumented immigrants who crossed the border from Mexico to the U.S. The most powerful drug dealer in the world, Matteo Alacrán, united with the other dealers and convinced the two nations to give them land along the U.S.-Mexico border for a new country. In exchange, Alacrán promised to catch all the illegal immigrants who tried to enter the United States, as well as to only sell his drugs to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Tam Lin’s gift of a book of history to Matt suggests he wants Matt to become more aware of the greater issues of his society. The history book characterizes Matteo Alacrán as a power-hungry individual willing to exploit international crises for his own ambitions. The novel uses the real-world issue of undocumented immigration to present how an enterprising individual could use this conflict to rise to power.
Themes
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The author condemns Matteo Alacrán for his plan. Matt sees that the author’s name is Esperanza Mendoza and the book was printed in California by an anti-slavery organization. The book continues to explain how different family’s ruled different Farms within Opium, with the Alacráns ruling the largest piece of land. A government began to form with Matteo Alacrán as its absolute dictator. The author calls El Patrón evil, which makes Matt mad enough to stop reading.
The mention of the book being published outside of Opium suggests that the author, unlike all the characters within Opium, is free to speak critically of El Patrón. The fact that an anti-slavery organization publishes a book against Opium hints at further human rights abuses within the country. Matt’s anger at the author emphasizes his loyalty toward El Patrón, although the reader has been able to infer that El Patrón’s loyalty in return is ingenuine.
Themes
On his ride back to the house, Matt stops to talk to the foreman of the water purification plant. Matt has realized El Patrón has been educating him so that he may one day help the family run the opium farm. He looks forward to the day when he is in charge of the farm, he will free all of the eejits. Matt asks the foreman where the chemicals from the water go after the water is purified, and the foreman points to ridges out in the distance known as the wastelands.
Matt’s hopefulness about helping to run the farm and being able to free the eejits shows his enduring faith in his freedom to choose what to do with his future. The presence of the wastelands, created by chemicals removed from water, suggests the presence of environmental devastation on the Farm.
Themes
Matt rides out toward the wastelands. The stench is overwhelming, but Matt sees buildings there with iron bars on the windows. Matt struggles to breathe and uses his inhaler. His horse collapses near a trough and can’t get up. Matt is about to faint when a man picks him up and throws him into a truck. Two men in the truck discuss amongst themselves whether Matt is an eejit, or an immigrant about to be turned into an eejit.
The bars on the windows suggest that someone is being imprisoned in the buildings, a punishment made worse by the toxic stench. The indifference of these men toward Matt, shown by their rough treatment of him when they believe he is either an eejit or an immigrant, suggests that people at all levels of society discriminate against these two groups.
Themes
Matt realizes he is in a Farm Patrol truck. He tries to act tough, like Tam Lin taught him. He tells them he is El Patrón’s clone and got lost. The Farm Patrol agents realize he sounds exactly like El Patrón and are suddenly very polite to him. The agents, whose names are Hugh and Ralf, agree to take him back to the estate. They tell him there is carbon dioxide builds up around the trough and sometimes they have to remove the eejits from their pens, so they don’t die.
The Farm Patrol agents completely change their treatment of Matt when they discover his relation to El Patrón, showing El Patrón’s fearsome authority over them. The fact that the eejits are kept in “pens” emphasizes how the men view eejits as livestock instead of as human beings, and therefore can justify treating them as less than human.
Themes
Matt chats with Ralf and Hugh, who are from England and Wales, and used to play soccer like Tam Lin. There’s another agent in the back of the truck, named Wee Wullie, who is Scottish. Ralf talks about all the fights that take place around soccer games, as they drive past the same eejits Matt saw that morning. Ralf explains further that sometimes one accidently kills a person in a soccer fight, which is why they were sent to work for the Farm Patrol.
The Farm Patrol’s makeup of violent criminals suggests a corrupt and unstable law enforcement placed in charge of the eejits and illegal immigrants. The Farm Patrol’s casual discussion of soccer shows how violent individuals can appear normal and friendly to people like Matt, implying that characters who have been nice to him thus far in the story may prove to have more sinister motivations.
Themes
Matt asks Hugh and Ralf if Tam Lin ever killed anyone. Ralf says Tam Lin is a terrorist. Hugh explains that Tam Lin was a Scottish nationalist who placed a bomb outside the prime minister’s house, but the blast accidently killed 20 children when a school bus arrived at the wrong moment.
This revelation complicates Tam Lin’s character, as Tam Lin has always encouraged Matt to choose morality, while hiding a horrible crime in his own past. This calls into question Tam Lin’s integrity, while also explaining his tormented behavior.
Themes
