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 continues his education through video learning. Though his life is pleasant, he feels hollow, because he knows he is “only a photograph of a human.” He constantly dreams of the eejit man in the field dying of thirst.
Matt’s distress over the idea that he is a copy of a human and his observation of the dead eejit man shows how knowledge can increase one’s suffering, rather than alleviate it.
Themes
María comes to visit him and brings her beloved dog, Furball. Matt hates how often she compares him to the nervous little beast. When Tom visits, he and Matt often fight. Only Tom is punished for these fights, which Matt resents, and Furball is never disciplined either.
María’s comparison of Matt and Furball shows the contradictory perspective of her character, where she cares for Matt but still views him as an inferior animal. But Matt’s frustrations and will to fight show that he is emotionally complex and capable of moral choices, unlike an animal.
Themes
When he’s alone, Matt entertains himself by wandering around the house. He hides and listens while Felicia ferociously plays the piano in the afternoons. She plays until she is exhausted, and the servants bring her a drink.
Felicia’s passionate playing and her constant drinking are likely coping mechanisms for the intense suffering she experiences living under El Patrón’s authority. This suggests that although she is not a clone like Matt, she is in some way oppressed.
Themes
One day, when Matt is alone in the room with the piano, he considers touching the keys. When he hears voices in the hallway, he runs into the nearest closet to hide. Inside, he finds a switch and flips it. A wall in the closet moves and reveals an empty passageway. Matt flips the switch again and the wall closes back in place. Matt leaves the closet, vowing to keep the secret of the passageway all to himself.
Matt’s curiosity toward the piano suggests an inherent human need to create art. The presence of the hidden passageway hints at the sinister secretive nature of the house and whoever created it. Matt’s decision to keep the passage a secret shows how he is beginning to understand the complexities of his society, and exercise his individual autonomy rather than bending to others’ rules.
Themes
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Later, Matt slowly begins to explore the passage. Inside, he finds peepholes to empty rooms throughout the house, as well as into more dark closets. One day, he enters one of the other closets. In the next room, the doctor and Mr. Alacrán are imploring Mr. Alacrán’s father to use chemotherapy or get a liver transplant. Mr. Alacrán’s father says God is calling him. Matt is afraid he’ll get in trouble for eavesdropping and leaves.
The peepholes hint at the presence of an individual who wishes to observe others without their consent. Mr. Alacrán and the doctor’s insistence on medical intervention suggests the high value they place upon science. The father’s religious objections to medical treatment show how one’s moral codes can come into conflict with the scientific advancements of society.
Themes
One day, Matt is hiding and listening to Felicia play when the doctor enters. Felicia complains to him and the doctor offers her an injection. He gives her the shot and then carries her away when she falls asleep. Once they are gone, Matt moves forward and presses a key on the piano. After this, Matt begins to play the piano whenever no one else is around. The music brings him joy and allows him to forget for a while that he is a clone.
The doctor’s encouragement of Felicia to use an injection to sooth her discontent shows another abuse of the medical establish, to use drugs to avoid dealing with an individual’s complaints. Matt’s enjoyment of music shows how he is beginning to develop his own identity apart from the oppression he feels as a clone.
Themes
Tam Lin discovers Matt playing one day. He says this must mean that El Patrón is musical too, he just never had the time to try playing an instrument. Tam Lin attempts to hire a music teacher for Matt, but the only person he can find is a deaf musician, Mr. Ortega. Soon, Matt is as proficient at music as he is many other academic subjects. Matt hopes that if he learns enough, everyone will forget he is a clone.
Matt’s unique accomplishments are still attributed to his link to El Patrón. Matt’s hopes that he can overcome society’s prejudices against him as a clone show his desire to take control of his life, rather than to live in El Patrón’s shadow. These hopes demonstrate his faith in his ability to change his circumstances.
Themes
