María Mendoza Character Analysis in The House of the Scorpion

María is the youngest daughter of Senator Mendoza and Esperanza, the younger sister of Emilia, and the friend and love interest of Matt. She has black hair and olive skin and grows up to be a beautiful young woman. She is kind and affectionate, but also emotionally sensitive and easily upset. She feels great empathy for the suffering of eejits and clones in the country of Opium, just as she cares deeply for animals. She encourages Matt to be virtuous so that he may go to the heaven. She struggles with the idea of Matt being a clone because she knows this means he will ultimately be killed for his organs. El Patrón arranges for her to marry Tom and she accepts this fate. As she grows older, she becomes more rebellious against her convent education and her family’s expectations. She is initially compliant with the abusive regime of the Alacrán family, but after she falls in love with Matt, she defies their discrimination against clones in order to try to save his life.

María Mendoza Quotes in The House of the Scorpion

The The House of the Scorpion quotes below are all either spoken by María Mendoza or refer to María Mendoza. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Free Will vs. Predetermination Theme Icon

The senator didn’t know that María had kissed Matt on several occasions, just as she kissed Furball and anything else that pleased her. Matt knew this was different, though. He was humiliating her. If it had been Tom asking for the kiss, no one would have cared. People would have thought it cute for a boy to flirt with his novia.

Matt wasn’t a boy. He was a beast.

Related Characters: Matteo “Matt” Alacrán, Tom, Senator Mendoza, María Mendoza

Page Number and Citation: 110

Explanation and Analysis:

“It’s a boy,” whispered María.

It was. Only first Matt thought it was some kind of beast, so alien and terrible was its face. It had doughy, unhealthy skin and red hair that struck up in bristles…Worst of all was the terrible energy that rolled through the trapped body. The creature never stopped moving. It was as though invisible snakes were rippling beneath the skin and forcing its arms and legs to move in a ceaseless bid for freedom.

Related Characters: María Mendoza (speaker), MacGregor’s Clone, Matteo “Matt” Alacrán

Page Number and Citation: 119-20

Explanation and Analysis:

“You don’t have a soul, so you can’t be baptized. All animals are like that. I think it’s unfair and sometimes I don’t believe it. After all, what would heaven be without birds or dogs or horses? And what about trees and flowers? They don’t have souls either. Does that mean heaven looks like a parking lot?”

Related Characters: María Mendoza (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán

Page Number and Citation: 159

Explanation and Analysis:

“Matt’s human?”

“He always was,” her mother replied. “The law is a wicked fiction to make it possible to use clones for transplants. But bad law or not, we’re going to use t now. If you survive the landing, Matt, I’ll do everything in my power to make you the new reigning drug lord. […] Only you must promise me that once you’re in control, you’ll destroy the opium empire.”

Related Characters: Esperanza Mendoza (speaker), María Mendoza (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán

Page Number and Citation: 367

Explanation and Analysis:

Tomorrow he would begin the task of breaking down the empire of Opium. It was a huge and terrifying job, but he wasn’t alone. He had Chacho, Fidelito, and Ton-Ton to cheer him on. He had Celia and Daft Donald to advise him and María to be everyone’s conscience.

Related Characters: Chacho, Celia, Ton-Ton, María Mendoza, Fidelito, Daft Donald, Matteo “Matt” Alacrán

Page Number and Citation: 380

Explanation and Analysis:

María Mendoza Character Timeline in The House of the Scorpion

The timeline below shows where the character María Mendoza appears in The House of the Scorpion. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Abuse of Power and Corruption Theme Icon

...and Emilia are the children he saw earlier. Celia says Emilia has a younger sister, María, who is tormented by Steven’s devilish little brother, Tom. (full context)

Language, Law, and Dehumanization Theme Icon

...work and Matt waits for the children. Steven and Emilia arrive with Emilia’s little sister, María. María excitedly asks Matt if he wants to play. Matt is too stunned to speak.... (full context)

Steven and Emilia begin to walk away, leaving María behind. Matt fears for María being left out alone in the dark, so he breaks... (full context)

Matt wakes up to Steven and Emilia carrying him through the poppy fields, with María running behind them. Matt screams because he has never experienced pain like his cuts before.... (full context)

...glass out of his hands and feet. Matt is too dizzy to cry or scream. María notices that Matt has writing branded on his foot which reads “Property of the Alacrán... (full context)

...night sky. He prays for Celia to come get him. He realizes Steven, Emilia, and María are watching him. Steven explains to Emilia that Matt, whom he addresses now as “it,”... (full context)

María asks what a clone is, and Emilia answers, “a bad animal.” Mr. Alacrán and the... (full context)

...Virgin is watching over him and feels comforted enough to sleep. He wakes up when María enters the room. She feeds him dinner by hand, as long as he promises not... (full context)

Matt likes María more than any of the other people of the Big House because she is little... (full context)

...that everyone had a tattoo like him, but now he knows that’s not the case. María begins to have a nightmare and calls out for her mother. (full context)

María thrashes in her sleep. Matt gets up to pee in the bucket, but María rolls... (full context)

Rosa tells Matt that María has gone home and is never coming back. The doctor comes every day to check... (full context)

...Tom. Tom tells Matt to do something interesting so he can report it back to María. Matt flinches when he remembers María. Tom calls Matt a stupid clone who’s too dumb... (full context)

...all messed up. He begins to rearrange the sawdust. When he looks up, Celia and María are at the window. Celia sticks her hands through the window and begs him to... (full context)

Celia tells María that there’s only one person who can save Matt. Celia will give María a letter... (full context)

A few days later, María tries to provoke Matt into talking to her. She tells Matt that El Patrón is... (full context)

...and all their servants lined up outside the house. He becomes angry when he sees María holding hands with Tom. El Patrón sits in a wheelchair between his bodyguards. He invites... (full context)

...says goodbye to him and leaves. Afterward, all the family members and servants, except for María, ignore Matt as they leave. Soon only Celia and Tam Lin are left with Matt. (full context)

Matt doesn’t like leaving Celia’s apartment, but does so when María and Celia persuade him to do so. The servants, Steven, and Emilia all turn away... (full context)

Tam Lin spends his days sitting with a newspaper in the apartment while Celia and María attempt to get Matt interested in playing or eating. The doctor often visits because Matt... (full context)

María announces that she must leave for school. Matt, sad to lose his friend, ignores her,... (full context)

...is a clone and therefore different, many people will hate him. But some people, like María and Celia, will still love him. (full context)

María comes to visit him and brings her beloved dog, Furball. Matt hates how often she... (full context)

María comes to Matt’s room and scolds him for hiding in his den like an animal... (full context)

Matt accompanies María to her room because she wants to bring Furball to the party. But Tom is... (full context)

...party. He moves Tom’s place card from the main table to the children’s table and María’s card next to his own. He continues to wander, pausing to wonder whom the 200... (full context)

El Patrón sees Matt and María struggling, and asks if María is Matt’s girlfriend. Mr. Alacrán finds the suggestion disgusting, but... (full context)

El Patrón and MacGregor discuss “fetal brain implants” while Felicia and María eat their dinner miserably. Matt notices that Felicia keeps looking at MacGregor. El Viejo, Mr.... (full context)

...own advice, means El Patrón loves him a lot because the gift is very expensive. María takes away her gift to Matt because he was mean to Tom. Matt angrily tells... (full context)

María finally gives her gift to Matt. Matt is angry at her for embarrassing him in... (full context)

María has kissed Matt before, but Matt knows that this time is humiliating for her because... (full context)

...rest of the guests now ignore Matt. He collects his gifts and leaves. He opens María’s gift, a box of handmade taffy, and thinks about how María is always hoarding useless... (full context)

Matt wakes up the next morning and knows he must make amends with María once her temper subsides. With the party over, the servants and the family treat Matt... (full context)

...nervous breakdown. Felicia says that she has come to help him, and tells Matt that María is waiting for him at the hospital. (full context)

...is a part of the Alacrán estate Matt does not like to visit. He finds María in the waiting room. María reveals that she thought Matt had invited her to the... (full context)

Tom appears in the waiting room. He was the one who told María that Matt wanted to meet her at the hospital. He tells them he wants to... (full context)

...a room where a creature Matt does not recognize lies strapped to a bed, screaming. María realizes that the creature is actually a boy, but now its body is twisted and... (full context)

...to him. He goes to find Celia and tells her what Tom showed him and María. Enraged, Celia tells Matt that Tom is actually MacGregor’s son, even though he acts like... (full context)

...more at ease, Matt goes to take a nap. He contemplates how he will show María that he’s totally different from MacGregor’s clone. He wonders why MacGregor would replace his lost... (full context)

María continues to avoid Matt, but he knows if he could just speak to her alone,... (full context)

...He runs into Tom, who is nailing frogs to the ground. Matt threatens to tell María what Tom is doing, but Tom is unnervingly calm. He talks about the natural food... (full context)

Matt attempts one last time to speak to María outside her apartment, but she makes an excuse to avoid him. After she leaves, he... (full context)

...Mendoza appears and calls Matt worse than an animal, swearing that Matt will never see María again. Matt doesn’t understand, until Senator Mendoza accuses him of killing Furball with laudanum. Matt... (full context)

Matt hears María leave in a hovercraft. He has never been in a hovercraft because El Patrón usually... (full context)

...Matt. He regrets Tam Lin’s last words about his cowardice. He knows Tam Lin, unlike María, holds him accountable for his supposed actions because Tam Lin sees Matt as human. Tam... (full context)

Without visits from María, Matt’s days pass by with uninterrupted boredom. María and her sister, Emilia, now live and... (full context)

...than when Matt saw him before. Matt wishes he could leave the hot, smoky room. María enters, looking much more grown up. Matt marvels at how beautiful she is, and then... (full context)

...a dog doesn’t belong in church. Celia says El Patrón wants Matt at the funeral. María appears suddenly and argues that Saint Francis brought a wolf to church. The priest debates... (full context)

María takes Matt, who is in a daze, into the music room. She complains about how... (full context)

María wonders who made the secret passage. Matt guesses El Patrón made it to spy on... (full context)

María says she decided to forgive Matt after reading about Saint Francis, a Catholic saint who... (full context)

María says she won’t hold a grudge against Matt for his past actions, as long as... (full context)

María is happy to be with Matt because he is so easy to talk to. They... (full context)

...sit at the computer and scroll through security footage from the house until they see María’s black hat abandoned in the music room. They switch to the camera’s in Celia’s apartment,... (full context)

...asks him if he remembers what happened there. Felicia tells Tom she saw Matt leaving María’s apartment with Furball. Tom asks her if she saw Matt kill the dog. Felicia admits... (full context)

Matt and María run into Tam Lin in the passage. Tam Lin says El Patrón told him about... (full context)

María leaves the estate and Matt feels lonely, even through he feels better knowing Tam Lin... (full context)

...the mountains to escape to Aztlán. He knows he cannot leave Celia, Tam Lin, or María, but he feels better knowing he has the option. (full context)

...against El Patrón’s wickedness. Matt looks at the author’s photograph and realizes she looks like María. The author biography says she is the ex-wife of Senator Mendoza, meaning she is in... (full context)

...about escaping this evil empire El Patrón has built. But he cannot go without seeing María at Steven and Emilia’s upcoming wedding. (full context)

Emilia arrives surrounded by eejit flower girls. None of the guests notice María leaving the room after she exits her family’s hovercraft. She meets up with Matt in... (full context)

Matt tells María about the eejit pens, Farm Patrol, and El Patrón’s heart attack. Matt asks María if... (full context)

Matt shows María the book her mother, Esperanza, wrote. María is outraged that her mother has been alive... (full context)

María has to leave before Emilia notices she is missing. She will not be able to... (full context)

...is flanked by Tam Lin and Daft Donald. Matt looks at the dressing room where María moves with life and energy, unlike everyone else in the room, who appear dull and... (full context)

María finds Matt in the passage. She says all the bodyguards are looking for him. Matt... (full context)

Matt sleeps in the passage and then wanders around, growing dehydrated and bored. Finally, María arrives with a bottle of water. She tells him El Patrón is doing better, but... (full context)

Tam Lin told María that El Patrón built the passage not only to spy on people but also to... (full context)

Matt and María move through the deserted tunnel. Matt finds another scorpion drawing and touches it. The door... (full context)

Emilia comes to the hovercraft to say goodbye to María. She brings Steven and a pair of bodyguards. She warns María not to bring to... (full context)

Steven orders the bodyguards to grab Matt. María begs them to stop. But Steven says that under the law, Matt is classified as... (full context)

Matt wonders where María is. He assumes the family must have drugged her and will continue to drug her... (full context)

...he has the power to kill something with it. Instead, he decides to think about María and what she told him about getting in trouble for sunbathing naked on the roof... (full context)

...Matt gets to Aztlán, he must travel to the city of San Luis and find María’s convent. (full context)

...is the only possession El Patrón will ever lose. He instructs Matt to go find María and her mother, because Esperanza is a strong person he wants on his side. Then... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...said to him. He is filled with a new determination to survive. He remembers how María said she loved him. All the boys and Jorge leave, but Chacho and Fidelito remain... (full context)

...a kind stranger like Guapo. As Matt and Fidelito walk up the hill, Matt worries María will not care for him anymore because he is covered in acne and wounds. (full context)

...enter a hospital corridor. They tell a nearby nurse they are looking for Chacho and María. (full context)

...the corrupt Keepers for a long time and Ton-Ton gave her the evidence she needed. María bursts into the room and hugs Matt. (full context)

...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.... (full context)

...He will invite Chacho, Fidelito, and Ton-Ton to come live with him on the estate. María could come, too, and help the eejits. (full context)

...have Chacho, Fidelito, and Ton-Ton to support him. Celia and Daft Donald will guide him. María will help him do what is just and moral. Matt even has Esperanza to help... (full context)

María Mendoza Character Analysis

María Mendoza Quotes in The House of the Scorpion

Chapter 11 Quotes

Chapter 12 Quotes

Chapter 16 Quotes

Chapter 37 Quotes

Chapter 38 Quotes

María Mendoza Character Timeline in The House of the Scorpion