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
As days pass, Matt begins to lose his senses of smell and taste due to his work in the factory. The plankton growing cycle ends, and Ton-Ton drives a big harvester machine to the tanks. The boys crane their necks to see the channel that had once been Gulf of California. Matt searches the fence for a weak spot where he could escape through.
Matt’s search for a way to escape shows that despite the efforts of the Keepers to squash his disobedience, he maintains his desire to control his own life. This suggests that he possesses an inner determination the Keepers cannot defeat.
Themes
Chacho spots something large and white off in the distance. He and Matt go to investigate and find a chasm full of bones. Most of the bones are huge, but one appears to be the size of a human skull. Matt and Chacho decide the chasm is too dangerous to enter and turn back. Fidelito, coming from a seaside town, knows the large bones belong to beached whales. Matt wonders what could have led the whales to die in the chasm.
The chasm of bones is an ominous detail which hints at the deadly, sinister nature of the plankton factory. The image of beached whales represents a trapped, helpless creature Matt can relate to in his oppressed state but also hints at a more dangerous fate awaiting him in the future surrounding the boneyard.
Themes
Every night, Jorge makes the boys confess their crimes and then attack Matt with insults. Matt finds that the insults affect him less and less as time goes on, until the boys just sound like turkeys gobbling to him. Matt still refuses to confess himself, even though Chacho and Fidelito have learned to obey Jorge. One night, when Matt is more tired than usual, Jorge says he needs further punishment.
Matt shows his mental resilience, given to him by years of surviving in Opium, by enduring the constant abuse from Jorge and the rest of the boys. Jorge shows his vindictive nature by increasing his punishment of Matt in order to break his will, further emphasizing the senseless brutality of this society.
Themes
Jorge accuses Ton-Ton of stealing a videogame from the Keepers. He asks the boys how one who has more possessions than the others should be punished. He tells a parable about how worker bees kill another bee who steals. Ton-Ton trembles with fear and Matt feels pity for him even though he hates Ton-Ton for being a suck-up. When Jorge takes out a large cane, Matt realizes Jorge wants to use Ton-Ton’s punishment to frighten Matt, just like El Patrón used to punish one person as an example for others. Jorge beats Ton-Ton so badly, he has to go to the infirmary.
Jorge’s beating of Ton-Ton shows how corrupt and illogical the Keepers are because Ton-Ton is the most obedient of the Lost Boys. Ton-Ton is also the easiest to exploit, however, because he is the most eager to please the Keepers, thus showing how the Keepers do not care about turning the Lost Boys into moral citizens, but instead only care about exploiting the most vulnerable.
Themes
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Jorge asks Matt if he has any sins to confess to. Matt says no, because he has learned that not even an obedient person like Ton-Ton is safe from punishment. Jorge tells the boys that some individuals must learn their lessons by being broken. Matt accuses him of trying to turn them into zombies. Jorge raises his cane. Fidelito, panicked, confesses Matt’s crimes for him. Jorge suggests that Fidelito take the punishment for Matt, and finally, Matt knows he must confess. Matt silently endures a beating from Jorge.
The ineffectiveness of Jorge’s cruelty toward Ton-Ton suggests that the Keepers own corruption will be their downfall. Matt’s accusation of Jorge wanting to create zombies draws comparisons between the Keepers’ system and Opium’s creation of eejits. Matt’s act of self-sacrifice for Fidelito shows his moral development as an individual, as this gesture is the exact opposite of how El Patrón sacrifices his clones for the sake of himself.
Themes
When Jorge leaves, the boys gather around Matt and tell him the Keeper went too far this time. A boy named Flaco calls Jorge a loser and says he will report Jorge once he is old enough to leave. Flaco says Matt is truly like the rest of the boys now, because he offered to take a beating for Fidelito. All the other boys agree and help Matt to the infirmary, where another boy gives him laudanum. Matt worries the drug will kill him like it killed Furball.
The rest of the Lost Boys aligning with Matt after he takes a beating for Fidelito shows how compassion for others can lead to resistance against an abusive system. Matt finally receives the acceptance he has always desired—not through his accomplishments, as he always expected, but through his moral trait of compassion.
Themes
