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
Matt listens to the boys talk and learns that the Keepers are in charge of taking care of orphans, who are known as the Lost Boys and Girls. He also discovers that the Lost Boys refer to the country of Opium as “Dreamland,” and tell stories about how zombies and vampires live there. Many of the boys believe their parents actually made it through Opium to the United States and will soon send for them. Matt doubts that this is true.
The name “Lost Boys” deprives the boys of their individual identities because it defines them only by the loss of their parents. The use of the word “vampire” implies a monstrously cruel immortal who leeches off of others, much like El Patrón, MacGregor, and other powerful people in Opium. The term “zombie” represents another kind of monster, this one robbed of all independent thought and humanity, signifying the terrible life to which the eejits are doomed.
Themes
Matt helps Fidelito with his work because he feels bad for the little boy who is unfairly denied food for not being able to produce as much as the older kids. The guards bring in lunch, and the boys can only eat after they recite their principles of citizenship. After lunch, Matt switches to a new job, but Chacho tells him that later the Keepers will force him to work only one job for the sake of efficiency.
Matt demonstrates his ability to choose to be compassionate within an oppressive system by choosing to help Fidelito. Chacho’s warning that the Keepers force them to only work one job suggests the Keepers only care about profit and not about the happiness of the Lost Boys.
Themes
Matt asks Chacho what he was carving wood for earlier. Chacho hesitates and then tells him he was making a guitar. Chacho says his father can play guitar and lives a wealthy life in the United States, where he will soon send for Chacho. Matt feels sad, knowing that in all likelihood, Chacho’s father is probably an eejit working in the poppy fields of Opium.
Despite the oppression of the Keepers, Chacho maintains his individual identity by attempting to pursue his own interest of music. The fact that Chacho and the other Lost Boys construct fantasies about their parents in order to hold out hope shows the depth of their suffering under an oppressive regime.
Themes
In the evening, the boys eat dinner and then bring out their mattress to sleep. They use a communal shower and Matt has to hide the writing on the bottom of his foot. Afterward, Fidelito climbs to the top of a bunk bed and says he’s going to show someone a world map, which Matt does not understand. Then Fidelito moons the Keepers.
Matt is still affected by the prejudices of Opium because he still fears being discovered as a clone. Fidelito’s mooning of the Keepers is an act of rebellion which shows that he maintains his free will even in a system which attempts to rob him of it.
Themes
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Raúl comes in to tell the boys a bedtime story about a five-legged horse. The horse’s fifth leg is individualism. The fifth leg does whatever it wants and keeps making the horse fall over, until a doctor cuts the extra leg off. Matt asks why one would not just make the horse an eejit, since that would accomplish the same goal as cutting off the leg. Raúl says it is different, but Matt says the boys are basically eejits who are expected to obey all orders. Raúl becomes angry and says Matt is an aristocrat who needs to be educated.
Raúl’s condemnation of individualism is another way of discouraging the boys from making their own decisions. Matt comparison of the Keepers’ oppression of the boys’ free will to Opium’s creation of eejits shows how both governments, although very different in philosophy, abuse their power by oppressing the most vulnerable members of society. Raúl uses the insult of “aristocrat” to disregard Matt’s opinions.
Themes
After Raúl leaves, all the boys congratulate Matt on his bravery in standing up to the Keepers. Matt does not understand why speaking his mind is considered brave. That night, Matt lies awake and thinks about how he should be more careful, because the people here are much different from the people he has known before. He worries someone will see the tattoo on his foot, realize he is a clone, and hate him for it.
Though Matt was oppressed in Opium, he enjoyed privileges that he no longer has underneath the Keepers, such as the protection El Patrón gave him. This shows that Matt benefitted as well as suffered from his connection to El Patrón, and now must learn to act without those privileges.
Themes
Matt attempts to make sense of all the new information he has gathered that day. He knows that an “aristocrat” is the worst thing a person can be. A “crot,” as the Lost Boys say as a swearword, is an eejit. One can also call an eejit a zombie. Matt misses Celia and Tam Lin greatly, but he forces himself to think about reuniting with María in order to cheer himself up. He also feels better knowing the Lost Boys like him and do not treat him like a clone.
The Lost Boys’ use of the word “crot” is an act of rebellion because it is a swear word, but also shows how they believe becoming an eejit is a horrible fate. Matt’s appreciation of the Lost Boys shows his happiness at finally being accepted by his peers and being able to escape the segregation and isolation he has experienced all his life.
Themes
