The House of the Scorpion

by

Nancy Farmer

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Themes and Colors
Free Will vs. Predetermination Theme Icon
Scientific Ethics and Abuse Theme Icon
Language, Law, and Dehumanization Theme Icon
Abuse of Power and Corruption Theme Icon
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.
Language, Law, and Dehumanization Theme Icon

The leaders of Opium, the futuristic country in which the novel is set, use language and law to strip clones and eejits (enslaved people who have computer chips in their brains) of their humanity. Once those in power deny these groups their humanity, they can exploit their bodies for their own gain. However, both the clones (like Matt) and eejits (like the Lost Boys’ parents) prove their inherent, undeniable humanity through Matt’s ability to learn and create, his lack of DNA difference from humans, and the eejits’ enduring human relationships. Thus, the novel argues while authority figures may try to manipulate language and law in order to rob people of their humanity, these factors can be reclaimed or overcome for the opposite purpose, showing that there is an enduring personhood in all individuals that cannot be taken away.

Authority figures like Mr. Alacrán use language to deny Matt’s humanity as a clone. But Matt’s beloved friends, Celia and Tam Lin, show how kinder words can acknowledge Matt’s inherent worth as a person. This shows the power of language to build up or tear down one’s humanity. When Matt first enters the Alacrán house, the servants and the children living there address Matt as “he” and “kid”, until Mr. Alacrán enters. Mr. Alacrán knows Matt is a clone, so he calls Matt “it” and “beast” as he throws him out of the house. Mr. Alacrán’s choice of words classify Matt as an animal rather than a person. This shows how language can deny an individual’s dignity and personhood, allowing Mr. Alacrán and others to treat Matt as less than human. Celia and Tam Lin, by contrast, speak about Matt as a boy who is growing into a man. This language affirms Matt’s personhood by acknowledging his identity, age, and gender. Because Celia and Tam Lin recognize Matt’s humanity, as shown through their use of language, drives them to help Matt escape execution for being a clone. This shows how language is a key part of both affirming and denying one’s human rights.

Authority figures also use the law to strip clones and eejits of their humanity, and therefore their rights, so the leaders can exploit them for their own gain. Matt learns that clones are grown inside cows, therefore making them livestock under the law, even though there is genetically no difference between Matt and any other human. The clones being legally classified as livestock means that the Alacráns can kill them for organs. Thus, authority figures like the Alacráns use technicalities of the law so they can take away clones’ rights and harvest their organs. This shows how in general, laws can be manipulated to support the dehumanization and exploitation of others. Eejits are individuals who were attempting to cross through Opium to illegally immigrate either to the United States or Aztlán, and Opium uses this crime as justification for implanting commuter chips which turn them into mindless workers. Farm Patrol is the law enforcement agency within Opium who capture the people trying to cross illegally through the country. The laws of Opium allow the illegal immigrants to be stripped of their humanity by turning them into machines. This shows how the law can be used to justify the dehumanization of those who violate it. Once dehumanized, people can be exploited for their labor. Dehumanizing laws go beyond the country of Opium in the novel. Activist Esperanza tells Matt that international law “unpersons” a clone because two versions of the same person cannot exist at the same person. Matt can only become a “person” in the legal sense after El Patrón dies. This further emphasizes how the law can take away an individual’s legal personhood due to a technicality.

Despite the language and the law’s attempts to dehumanize clones and eejits, throughout the novel they show an inherent humanity that cannot be erased. Despite being called a beast, Matt shows his humanity through his ability to enjoy and create music. This shows that despite what dehumanizing language one might face, they are still capable of human endeavors such as art. As Matt worries about being discriminated against in Aztlán for being a clone, Tam Lin tells him no one in Aztlán will know he’s a clone, because there is a no genetic difference between a clone and a human. No one will know he’s a clone unless they were previously told. This shows that law and language cannot change the humanity inherent within one’s DNA. The Lost Boys and Girls, children of immigrants who were caught by Farm Patrol and turned into eejits, still long for their parents and dream of reuniting with them one day. Knowing the children miss their parents motivates Matt find a way to reverse the implantation and give the eejits their free will back. This demonstrates how human relationships, such as the bond between a child and a parent, can maintain an individual’s humanity even as the law seeks to take it away. The language and laws of society in The House of the Scorpion attempt to rob groups like clones and illegal immigrants of their humanity. In many ways, society succeeds in denying these groups their personhood, such as when clones are killed for their organs or illegal immigrants are robbed of their free will through becoming eejits. However, signs of their inherent humanity endure these oppressions, shows that an individual can never fully be separated from their personhood.

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Language, Law, and Dehumanization Quotes in The House of the Scorpion

Below you will find the important quotes in The House of the Scorpion related to the theme of Language, Law, and Dehumanization.
Chapter 1 Quotes

“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?

Related Characters: Lisa (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán, Matteo “El Patrón” Alacrán, Eduardo
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“I should have known what he—it—was the minute I saw it. No servant would be allowed to keep a child or live away from the others. Benito told me about the situation, only I thought it was living somewhere else. In a zoo, maybe. Wherever those things are kept.”

Related Characters: Steven Alacrán (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán, Benito Alacrán
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“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.

Related Characters: Matteo “Matt” Alacrán (speaker), Tam Lin (speaker)
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

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.

Related Characters: Matteo “Matt” Alacrán
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

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, María Mendoza, Tom, Senator Mendoza
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“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), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán, MacGregor’s Clone
Page Number: 119-20
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“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.

Related Characters: Matteo “Matt” Alacrán (speaker), Celia (speaker)
Page Number: 125
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“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.”

Related Characters: Celia (speaker), Matteo “El Patrón” Alacrán, Tom
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

For the first time he realized what a terrible thing it was to be an eejit. He hadn’t known any of the others before their operation. They were simply there to do boring jobs. But Rosa had been a real, though cruel and violent, person. Now she was merely a shadow with the life sucked out of her.

Related Characters: Matteo “Matt” Alacrán, Rosa
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

“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: 159
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“He’s livestock,” Steven said with a cold smile. “The law is very clear. All clones are classified as livestock because they’re grown inside cows. Cows can’t give birth to humans.”

Related Characters: Steven Alacrán (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

“You can’t have two versions of the same person at the same time,” Esperanza went on. “One of them—the copy—has to be declared an unperson. But when the original dies, the copy takes his place.”

Related Characters: Esperanza Mendoza (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán
Page Number: 367
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: María Mendoza (speaker), Esperanza Mendoza (speaker), Matteo “Matt” Alacrán
Page Number: 367
Explanation and Analysis: