Module 5: The House of the Scorpion

Book Summary: The House of the Scorpion lives up its name and cover image as a science fiction no. A powerful ruler, El Patron, of a country names Opium, creates a clone of himself to use for it's body parts so that he can live a long life.  Well this one particular clone is not like the others and is special to El Patron.  He hides the clone until he is about 7 years old, which is around the time that Matteo Alacran (Matt) realizes that something is different about him.  When he is exposed he is look down upon as if he were an animal.  He is mistreated and punished for some weeks.  When El Patron hears about it he releases Matt and soon begins to have him educated and trained.  Matt finds friendship in a little girl named Maria who is not afraid of him and they have a bond that last throughout the book.  When Maria has to go away to live in a convent, Matt knows that his enemy Tom will torture him.  His "mother" Celia and bodyguard Tam Lin help to make sure Matt knows all that he needs to know in order to escape from Opium.  The day that El Patron finally dies because Celia has poisoned Matt so that his body parts cannot be used to save El Patron.  Tam Lin has Matt to run away so that he will not be harmed.  His voyage lands him in the world right outside of Opium.  He soon realized that they are not friendly or kind to orphans and he decides to runaway from there as well.  He meets up with Maria again, whose mother is a powerful woman of the convent, and she has him to go back to Opium to take over El Patron's estate to change the world back to what it should be.  He succeeds in his quest to go back and he is now the ruler of a new Opium.


Reference: Farmer, N. (2002). The house of the scorpion. New York, NY: Antheneum Books for Young Readers.


Impression:  What an interesting book with lots of twists and turns and information that you think about things that happen in "real life" today.  The symbolism behind some of the science fiction concepts were intriguing as well.  With the "eejits" who have chips inside of them to be workers of one task and they have to be told when to start, stop, eat or drink.  This seemed to be the daily lives of many workers in society.  El Patron found the real life beneath him and dumb because they chose to live their lives to a certain expectancy and then die.  With his clones, he can live forever (at least he thought he could) and rule the estate.  He was feared by many and hated by all, but no one crossed him and they respected his wishes.  Matt was a brilliant clone who could play the piano and read unlike other clones who were suppose to be brainless and dumb.
You can tell that the book is geared towards an older young reader because of the length of it and its' vocabulary. The chapters are not that long however the language use would not be appropriate for a younger audience.  The book is broken up in to the stages of Matt and how he grows into a young man.  The text font size is spaced out for easy reading and the dialogue between the characters flow into each other as well.  There is also a family tree in the beginning of the book to help you connect how everyone is related in the book.  As the character are mentioned in the book you can flip back to see the connection. That helped me tremendously because I was starting to confuse some of the characters names.
This book would be excellent for those readers who like science fiction and are heavy thinkers of science and how it can change the world.  I feel as if Farmer did not water down is vocabulary and she stayed true to her audience.  I would recommend this book to ages 12 and up because adult readers would enjoy this book as well.


Professional Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
Fields of white opium poppies stretch away over the hills, and uniformed workers bend over the rows, harvesting the juice. This is the empire of Matteo Alacran, a feudal drug lord in the country of Opium, which lies between the United States and Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Field work, or any menial tasks, are done by "eejits," humans in whose brains computer chips have been installed to insure docility. Alacran, or El Patron, has lived 140 years with the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich men in this world. The intelligence of clones is usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, the latest of Alacran's doubles, has been spared because he belongs to El Patron. He grows up in the family's mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal and pampered and educated as El Patron's favorite. Gradually he realizes the fate that is in store for him, and with the help of Tam Lin, his bluff and kind Scottish bodyguard, he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other "lost children" are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country.Nancy Farmer, a two-time Newbery honoree, surpasses even her marvelous novel, The Ear, The Eye and the Arm in the breathless action and fascinating characters of The House of the Scorpion. Readers will be reminded of Orson Scott Card's Ender in Matt's persistence and courage in the face of a world that intends to use him for its own purposes, and of Louis Sachar's Holes in the camaraderie of imprisoned boys and the layers of meaning embedded in this irresistibly compelling story. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Farmer's (A Girl Named Disaster; The Ear, the Eye and the Arm) novel may be futuristic, but it hits close to home, raising questions of what it means to be human, what is the value of life, and what are the responsibilities of a society. Readers will be hooked from the first page, in which a scientist brings to life one of 36 tiny cells, frozen more than 100 years ago. The result is the protagonist at the novel's center, Matt a clone of El Patron, a powerful drug lord, born Matteo Alacr n to a poor family in a small village in Mexico. El Patron is ruler of Opium, a country that lies between the United States and Aztl n, formerly Mexico; its vast poppy fields are tended by eejits, human beings who attempted to flee Aztl n, programmed by a computer chip implanted in their brains. With smooth pacing that steadily gathers momentum, Farmer traces Matt's growing awareness of what being a clone of one of the most powerful and feared men on earth entails. Through the kindness of the only two adults who treat Matt like a human Celia, the cook and Matt's guardian in early childhood, and Tam Lin, El Patron's bodyguard Matt experiences firsthand the evils at work in Opium, and the corruptive power of greed ("When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other... most of his branches are twisted," Tam Lin tells Matt). The author strikes a masterful balance between Matt's idealism and his intelligence. The novel's close may be rushed, and Tam Lin's fate may be confusing to readers, but Farmer grippingly demonstrates that there are no easy answers. The questions she raises will haunt readers long after the final page. Ages 11-14.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

References:Campbell, P. (n.d.). [Review of the book The house of the scorpion, by N. Farmer]. Amazon.com. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/The-House-Scorpion-Nancy-Farmer/dp/0689852231/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0SP2YP31B0RWDDBFSF1E

The House of the Scorpion. (2002). [Review of the book The house of the scorpion, by N. Farmer]. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-689-85222-0

Library uses: This would be a great book to use to inform younger boys on the changes of their body. Also, this could be used as a reference for information on clones.