Matteo “Matt” Alacrán, the main character of The House of the Scorpion, is a clone of the powerful drug lord, El Patrón, created for the sole purpose of providing organ transplants. Matt’s society sees his destiny as therefore prefixed. Even Matt’s DNA is supposed to determine his traits to be exactly like El Patrón. However, Matt asserts his free will by escaping from El Patrón’s estate and choosing to be kind whereas his creator was cruel. After this break from his prescribed destiny, Matt returns to the estate in order to use his DNA link to El Patrón to take control of the country of Opium, while also using his free will to right the wrongs of El Patrón’s rule. Matt’s progression, from a clone to a free man to a fair and just future leader, shows how one can take advantage of their predetermined circumstances in order to do what they believe is morally right.
Matt’s society, specifically El Patrón and the rest of the Alacrán family, believes Matt’s destiny is fixed because El Patrón created him to donate organs. Society believes that Matt must either fulfill the destiny for which he was designed, or be disposed of. This shows how society can oppress an individual’s free will on the basis of a predetermined plan. El Patrón frequently marvels at how similar, in personality as well as appearance, Matt is to himself at a younger age, even though the two characters grow up in completely different circumstances. This shows how El Patrón sees Matt’s personality as fixed by his DNA, just as that DNA also determines Matt’s future as El Patrón’s own personal organ donor. As El Patrón explains to Matt that he is about to kill him for a heart transplant, El Patrón tells him, “I created you, Mi Vida, as God created Adam.” This shows that El Patrón thinks of himself as a god, creating Matt for a specific purpose, disregarding Matt’s free will in favor of a preplanned destiny. El Patrón is not the only member of Matt’s society who believes Matt’s one possible future is donating organs to his creator. After El Patrón dies, Mr. Alacrán, El Patrón’s great grandson and the new head of the family, orders Matt to be executed, because he can no longer fulfill the purpose he was created for. For Mr. Alacrán and the rest of society, an individual like Matt must follow the path chosen for him before his birth, or else he is useless.
Matt, though he may be exactly like El Patrón in his DNA, is young and can still choose to be compassionate and moral. Throughout the novel, Matt will exercise this ability to choose to act with kindness or cruelty, showing that he is more complex than the one-dimensional role that El Patrón and the rest of society define for him. As an individual, he has the free will to determine his own moral character—for better or worse. Matt chooses to be cruel when he demands María kiss him at El Patrón’s birthday party. El Patrón encourages Matt here because El Patrón himself demands that everyone does as he says. Matt’s insistence that María kiss him, even though she doesn’t want to, show that Matt is capable of choosing to be as cruel as his creator. Yet Matt is also capable of choosing to be kind and selfless, unlike El Patrón. Matt shows this most clearly when he chooses to help the Lost Boys resist the oppressive Keepers after he escapes El Patrón’s estate and Matt’s choice to stay with another Lost Boy, Chacho, after Chacho gets stuck in the boneyard when the Keepers dump him and Matt there. This shows that Matt can choose to be kind and just even though he is created in the image of a cruel and greedy man. Here, Matt’s free will as an individual has a greater influence on his life than a genetic predisposition.
Matt’s genetic link to El Patrón brings him back to the Alacrán estate after he escapes, but he exercises free will in order to bring justice and fairness to the country. This shows how predetermination still dictates Matt’s life, but he can use his free will do the greatest moral good possible given his circumstances. With the help of his bodyguard, Tam Lin, Matt escapes from the Alacrán estate rather than be killed for being El Patrón’s clone. Matt’s choice to leave shows his life has purpose and value beyond the destiny El Patrón created him for, thus showing his ultimate ability to assert his free will over his destiny. Once Matt escapes to the country of Aztlán, he is compelled to return to his home country because of his shared DNA with El Patrón. His home country has gone into lockdown, and only El Patrón’s DNA signature can unlock the way into the country. The activist, Esperanza, tells Matt that because he is genetically identical to El Patrón, not only can he enter the country, but he is also the rightful ruler. Matt agrees and returns, showing that his DNA and the fact that he’s a clone continues to influence his actions and shape his future. Once Matt returns to his country and decides to take over El Patrón’s leadership, he resolves that he will use his position to resolve the problems El Patrón created, such as the exploitation of the workers known as eejits. This shows how both predestination, which made Matt the leader of the country, and free will, which allows him to choose to be a just leader, both have a significant impact on shaping an individual’s life. Thus, the novel demonstrates that while one is not controlled by their destiny, an individual can use the unique circumstances of their birth to make the decision to help others.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Free Will vs. Predetermination ThemeTracker
Free Will vs. Predetermination Quotes in The House of the Scorpion
“Don’t fix that one,” said Lisa, hastily catching his arm. “It’s a Matteo Alacrán. They’re always left intact.”
Have I done you a favor? thought Eduardo as he watched the baby turn its head toward the bustling nurses in their starched, white uniforms. Will you thank me for it later?
Celia said the Virgin loved all kind and gentle things. She wouldn’t approve of throwing a rotten orange in Tom’s face, even if he deserved it. If She looked inside Matt, She would see the bad thoughts about Rosa and the doctor and be sad.
“You can speak now, mi vida,” said Celia, but Matt wasn’t ready to go that far.
“Mi vida. I like that,” the old man said with a chuckle. “I like it so much, in fact, it’s what I’ll call him. Can he talk?”
“I think he’s in shock. […] He’s very intelligent, mi patron.”
“Of course. He’s my clone.”
“Matt is to be treated with respect, just as though I were here in his place. He is to be educated, well fed, and entertained. He is not to be mistreated.” El Patrón looked directly at Tom, who flushed red. “Anyone—anyone—who harms Matt will be dealt with severely. Do I make myself clear?”
“I’ll tell you this: El Patrón has his good side and his bad side. […] When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other. He grew large and green until he shadowed over the whole forest, but most of his branches are twisted.”
“The man we saw on the ground probably lagged behind the other workers and didn’t hear the foreman tell them to stop. He might have worked all night, getting thirstier and thirstier—”
“Stop!” shrilled Matt. He covered his ears. This was horrible! He didn’t want to know any more.
He threw himself into studying everything that came before him. Matt could name the planets, the brightest stars, and all the constellations. He memorized the names of countries, their capitals and chief exports.
He was in a rage to learn. He would excel, and then everyone would love him and forget he was a clone.
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.
“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.
“Are there any others like me?” he asked.
“No. You’re the only one,” Celia said.
The only one! He was unique. He was special. Matt’s heart swelled with pride. If he wasn’t human, he might become something even better.
“El Patrón thinks a person belongs to him the same way a house or car or status does,” she said. “He wouldn’t let that person go any more than he’d throw away money. It’s why he wouldn’t allow Felicia to escape. It’s why he keeps everyone under his control so he can call them back in an instant.”
“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?”
Equally, he couldn’t return to the mansion. The only way out was the border of Aztlán. You can do it, he imagined Tam Lin saying. I guess I have to, thought Matt, turning to look one last time at the quiet meadow, the white plumes of bear grass, and the black-throated sparrows flitting through the trees.
“Some boys have to learn the hard way. They have to be broken and mended and broken again until they learn to do what they’re told. It may be simple, like sweeping a floor, but they do it eagerly to keep from being broken again. And they do it forever, for as long as they live.”
“In other words, you want to turn me into a zombie,” said Matt.
What could he do? Where could he go? He couldn’t stay here until Jorge came back to check up on things. But he couldn’t leave Chacho behind, either. He limped back to the basin and sat on the edge. He talked and talked, sometimes exhorting Chacho to come toward his voice, sometimes only rambling on about his childhood.
“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.”
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.
