Mr. Ortega is Matt’s music teacher. He is deaf and therefore desperate enough for work to teach a clone, when all other human teachers avoid Matt. At the end of the novel, he cannot hear the call to attend El Patrón’s funeral and therefore is one of the few members of the household to survive the purge.
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Mr. Ortega Character Timeline in The House of the Scorpion
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Ortega appears in The House of the Scorpion. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9: The Secret Passage
...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....
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Chapter 21: Blood Wedding
...The room is filled with bodyguards. At the wedding, Matt sees a choir of eejits, Mr. Ortega , and El Patrón, who is flanked by Tam Lin and Daft Donald. Matt looks...
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Chapter 37: Homecoming
...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.
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...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...
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Chapter 38: The House of Eternity
...El Patrón’s wake, except for Celia, because she was pretending to be an eejit, and Mr. Ortega , because he could not hear the call to attend and no one remembered to...
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