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
Sister Inéz treats Matt’s injuries at the hospital along with Chacho, who struggles to recover from being crushed in the boneyard. María visits Matt every day and talks to him excitedly about every detail in her life. Her spirit fills Matt with hope. One day, both María and Esperanza come to visit him. Despite María’s protests, Esperanza tells Matt there is something important he must do. She says no one has heard from anyone in Opium since El Patrón’s death.
Despite the oppression and dehumanization Matt has endured from both the Keepers and the people of Opium, he is still able to find hope and joy in personal relationships like his friendship with María. Esperanza’s intrusion, however, suggests that, despite his happiness, Matt still cannot avoid his links to Opium, just as he can never escape his biological connection to El Patrón.
Themes
Esperanza tells Matt that Opium has been on lockdown for over three months, with no drugs or people going in or out. The country’s security system blocks all hovercrafts and only El Patrón’s DNA and fingerprint can override the system. Matt wonders if either the eejits or the Farm Patrol have revolted, or if the remaining Alacráns have turned on each other. He says there is nothing he can do to help Opium, because he is just a clone with no power.
Matt wonders if, like the Keepers, the regime of Opium has been brought down by its own corruption, either through its cruelty toward eejits or the internal conflict of the ruling family. The mention of El Patrón’s DNA and fingerprints suggest that Matt genetic link to El Patrón, which has plagued him throughout the story, could actually be the solution to the problems here.
Themes
Matt says that since he can no longer be used for organ transplants, Esperanza must just be intending to waste him on attempting to end Opium’s lockdown. Esperanza tells Matt that under international law, he is no longer a clone. The law says that two versions of one individual cannot exist, so the clone must be legally “unpersoned.” But because El Patrón has died, Matt is now the only Matteo Alacrán, and therefore the rightful leader of Opium.
Because of the discrimination he has lived with all his life, Matt still believes others will only want to exploit him for being a clone. Esperanza’s comments about international law classifying Matt an “unperson” shows how Opium is not the only society which uses the law to dehumanize individuals like clones.
Themes
Esperanza says they can use the law to have Matt take over Opium and then destroy the empire from within. Matt realizes all Esperanza cares about is destroying Opium. He knows Esperanza would sacrifice him to achieve her goal. But he also knows El Patrón created an evil empire that hurts drug addicts around the world, turns immigrants into eejits, and orphans the Lost Boys. If Matt becomes the leader of Opium, he can undo El Patrón’s crimes, so he agrees to help Esperanza.
Esperanza’s single-minded ambitions shows that she is also a corrupt authority figure because she does not respect the lives of individuals like Matt. Matt’s realization that he can use his predetermined link to El Patrón to choose to right the wrongs of the man’s empire shows how a mixture of both destiny and free will affect his life.
Themes
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Matt flies toward Opium in a hovercraft. As he approaches the border, the hovercraft’s touch screen asks for him to confirm his identity. Matt presses his hand to the screen and the security system gives the hovercraft approval to land. Matt looks down and sees the estate he grew up on from a new perspective. He sees servants and eejits outside, but no one comes to greet the hovercraft as it lands. Matt enters the mansion, uncertain of what he will find there.
Matt views the estate with a new perspective because he now knows he has the free will to influence what happens there. The presence of only servants and eejits suggests a dramatic change and possible catastrophe within Opium, a country which used to be dictated solely by the ruling upper class.
Themes
Esperanza told Matt to find the Alacráns and use his DNA signature to override the lockdown. Then, the U.S. and Aztlán will invade the country in order to make Matt the new leader. Matt is still afraid of the Alacráns’ cruelty toward him, but there is no one inside the big salon of the house. He hears piano playing in the music room. He finds Mr. Ortega at the piano, but when he touches the old teacher, the man runs away.
Matt, despite his exercising of his free will, must still use his DNA to bring about change in Opium, showing the power the circumstances of his birth still hold over his life. His continued fear of the Alacráns shows the lasting trauma of the discrimination he faced as a child. Mr. Ortega’s fear suggests a great change of circumstances with the household.
Themes
Matt sits down at the piano and begins to play. He is absorbed in the music when he turns and sees Celia standing before him. She cries and hugs him. She marvels at how much he has changed since he left. Matt mentions Tam Lin and asks her why Mr. Alacrán or Steven have not tried to end the lockdown. Celia takes him to the kitchen, where Mr. Ortega and Daft Donald are sitting in front of computers. Celia reminds Matt that El Patrón never let anything or anyone get away from him. Everyone on the estate belonged to him, including Matt.
The presence of computers in the kitchen shows how drastically Opium has changed, since no modern technology was allowed in the house before El Patrón’s death. Celia’s mention of how El Patrón would never let anyone go, as well as the unexplained absence of the family from the mansion, ominously hints at a horrible fate for those left behind in Opium.
Themes
