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
In the morning, the Keepers place the still tied-up Matt and Chacho in a cart. Jorge drives the cart out past the plankton factory to the fence. The Keepers plan to dump Matt and Chacho in the desolate chasm of the boneyard. They begin to untie them, but Jorge orders them to leave the boys tied up. Despite the other Keepers’ objections, Matt and Chacho are thrown into the chasm still immobilized, and the Keepers drive off.
The Keepers show that they are not only physically abusive, but murderous, because they do not even value Matt and Chacho’s lives enough to untie them before throwing them into a pit of bones. At this point, Matt and Chacho appear helpless to overcome their circumstances and escape from their oppressors.
Themes
Matt and Chacho discuss ways to escape. Matt finds a jagged bone, but when he attempts to cut himself free, he sinks down into the pit of bones. Chacho attempts to move and sinks, too. Chacho realizes the pit is full of bats and begins to scream in terror, fearing they will suck his blood. Matt tells him one should not be afraid of bats, but Chacho continues to scream that they are going to die down here. Matt remembers Tam Lin and Celia waiting for him back in Opium and knows he must survive.
The macabre elements of the bones and the bats highlight the danger of the boys’ situation and the odds stacked against them. However, Matt’s recollection of Tam Lin and Celia shows how personal relationships continue to give him the affirmation he needs to believe in the inherent worth of his life and fight for his and others’ survival.
Themes
Matt and Chacho suffer from intense dehydration. They manage to saw themselves free on the bones. Chacho asks Matt if he is actually an eejit and then asks him what eejits are really like. Matt tells him about all the eejits who slaved in the fields and on the estate. He says his parents, Celia and Tam Lin, were slaves but not eejits.
Chacho still trusts Matt, even though he suspects he might be an eejit. In fact, he wants to educate himself further on a subject he used to fear. This shows the power of friendship to humanize a dehumanized group like the eejits, much like María gradually changed her opinion of clones once she got to know Matt.
Themes
Chacho hears a breeze and fears it is the monster, La Llorona. A storm brews overhead. The sky hails and rains and Matt drinks the water. The storm ends as suddenly as it began, but Matt is still thirsty. Matt calls out to Chacho. The bats begin to climb up the boys’ bodies to get away from the water. Chacho fears the bats will suck his blood, but Matt attempts to remain calm so he does not shift the pile of bones again. He slowly begins climbing through the bones until he reaches the edge of the pit.
The constant threats of dehydration, animals, supernatural beings, and being crushed by bones all heighten the tension of the passage, as Matt and Chacho struggle to survive. Matt once again proves his will to live even when others wish death upon him by attempting to remain calm and by eventually climbing out of the pit.
Themes
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Matt calls out to Chacho, but he does not respond. Matt tells stories of his childhood so that Chacho may follow the sound of his voice. Matt pulls himself over the edge of the pit. He hears Chacho snoring, still down in the pit but alive.
Matt shows his ability to be selfless by remaining with Chacho and talking to him even after he himself has escaped from the boneyard. Matt’s escape from the pit offers hope he may survive the rest of the ordeal.
Themes
