Matteo Alacrán: His Journey

         Throughout this novel, Matt has had his ups and downs. The pain he had endured, has been more than imaginable, but he fought through it, with courage, and bravery. Matt has thought for himself as if he were a grown adult, and he has thought of ways to overcome or avoid his problems. Most people would crumble at the strain of knowing what Matt knows. Matt learns more and more about himself, and his clone "brother". Matt changes as a person as he struggles through his experiences. His personality changes drastically throughout the book. One thing that does not change about Matt is his attitude towards others. For a while he becomes spoiled, and almost snarky towards people like María. But his attitude takes a change for the better, and he becomes a loving and caring person that he always was, and always seems to be.

Farmer's future

There are a lot of changes that have happened from now until the future that Nancy Farmer describes in the book. Firstly, there are clones, but no one likes the clones because, firstly, they aren't real people, they are just copies. Another thing is that these clones usually have their minds destroyed, at birth, forcing people's first impressions make them hate clones. There was probably more than this to make people despise clones so much, but this is all the reasoning given in the book for people's loathing of Matt and the other clones. In the story, Farmer also changes the border of Mexico and the U.S.A. into a drug capital that helps both governments keep illegal immigrants from getting across the border. This happens after El Patrón and other drug lords, or farmers as they call themselves (even though they do no farming of their own), signed a contract with U.S.A. and Mexico, now called Aztlán, saying that they would keep everyone on their own side of the border and not sell their opium to the two countries, as long as they can use the land that is now a new country for farming opium, and they even named the country after the drug that it produces, opium. Farmer also hints at the fact that, although the U.S.A. used to be the place where everyone wanted to be, it is only a shadow of its former self. There are just as many people trying to get from there to Aztlán now, because the quality of life is actually better there. Tam Lin even tells Matt to go to Aztlán for this reason, and not to go to the U.S. because it is actually worse there now than it is in Aztlán. There are a lot of things that I may have missed, but these are the main things that Farmer has changed about now and the future in The House of The Scorpion, and, although some of it is potentially possible, I think much of it will be different.

Two Worlds: One Destiny

I was walking around my neighbourhood and some lightly forested area in my community, and was searching for something to write about, I was on a search for inspiration. I thought about the world that Matt lived in and I thought how different it is from ours. I thought how we would do something if something that horrible were to happen in our world. Then it struck me, would we do anything at all? I thought about the world that Nancy Farmer was portraying, she was explaining a world where people were forced into working as slaves like the eejits, and where people and clones were treated unequally. Then I looked around while I was on my walk and I could only see peace and quiet, and some wind blowing and softly swaying the trees, but while I was on my little stroll, I thought how blind people are from seeing the problems and issues in our world today. From our point of view there are no real problems, like make us run for our lives, or struggling to support our families so that they can get food to eat. We live in such a free and safe place, and sometimes we don't think about how lucky we are to be where we are. Unlike us there are people in our world, that are forced into slavery and human trafficking, and people who are running for their lives because of their race, religion, gender or political view. We stand here and do nothing, while people die each day, because of these problems, and we stand on the sidelines hoping that we don't get hit. So I think... how different are we from the world portrayed in this book. Nancy Farmer is showing us the issues in our world through her literature. We can not stand here and do nothing, donate to your local charity, volunteer for a homeless shelter near you. Help through your money or your volunteer work. This book has inspired me and I hope it has or will inspire you as well. 

Real life farm patrol

http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2012/feb/28/coyote-smuggling-15-illegals-also-here-illegally/

In Celia's story, she had a coyote to help her across the border, and he/she was supposed to get her safely to the other side without being caught, but this coyote does not help her and just leaves her to be captured by El Patrón. In this news article that I found, there is a coyote helping more than a dozen people across the border, with at least one of them paying him $2000 for it, but this coyote actually does try to help the people he was meant to smuggle across the border, although he was caught and handed over to the U.S. customs officials. This coyote also might have made it if he had been obeying the traffic laws, but he was caught while a police officer was trying to pull him/her over because of this. In the case of Celia, however, there was almost no chance of her getting over in the first place since the entire country of Opium was there to keep the Americans in America while keeping the people from Aztlán in their own country. Most coyotes in real life will actually help many of their "clients" (if possible) to gain a reputation, but the one in the book obviously knew that there was no way that either of them would survive if the coyote came along, and would probably have been surprised to hear that she had kept her mind. The coyote in this article was much more likely to be successful than the one in the book, which was why he/she dared to take these people across the border, and he/she knew that there would be a lot of money in it for him/her. There is not much said about coyotes in the book, other than the fact that a lot would just leave people to get caught by the farm patrol, but there is a lot of information about the ones in the real world, like the way that they smuggle people in, which is often car or boat (car in this article). Overall, I think the main differences between the coyotes is the chance that they have of making it to the other side, which is slim in both cases, but the stakes for being caught are much bigger in the book than in real life.

Setting and Characterization

Setting in the book “House of the Scorpion”

             The setting in “The House of the Scorpion” is based in the future.  It is set in the area of Mexico but it is not called Mexico anymore.  The setting is like this because the main character, Matt, is a clone and we don’t have the technology to make clones now so if we did it would be in the future. The setting is also set in the future I think because the future has limitless possibilities and that intrigues the reader to almost believe that this could happen and might be possible.  Also the book is written as a first person narrative which intrigues the reader even more because the emotions of main character which is Matt.

             The setting is based in the location of modern day Mexico that is called Aztlan in the book.  The people in this book almost belong and are controlled by El Patron. El patron is the hierarchy in the book and has all of the power.  The setting to me almost felt like it was not in the future as I thought of it, except for the cloning and the eejits.  I felt like it was set back in time, but there was just a war so that could be a factor to why it seems that way.

Characterization in the book “House of the Scorpion”

             In this book different character were introduced at different time depending on wherever Matt went in his life.  I have to say that it is hard to keep track of all of the characters in the book because there are so many of them.  I don’t think that the actual introduction of the characters contributes the development of the story, but I think that it will be the actual development of the characters as he know them contributes more to the story.  I think that everyone in the story will change their opinion about Matt.  Most of the characters were introduced because of the few main characters.  But I think that all were introduced to get Matt (the main character) through his life. 

             The characters in this book almost belong and are controlled by El Patron.  This is because they are afraid of things that he has done probably in his past and what he is cable of doing now.  With the characters being introduced like they are there is no doubt that in the end everyone will have a different and more positive opinion about Matt than they had previously had at the beginning of the book.  I especially think this about Maria because she has mixed feelings about Matt right now and I am sure that he will do something to change that. 

María Playlist

1. Love Hurts - Nazareth (Robert)
      When María is told she is never allowed to see Matt again she is hurt deep. She loves Matt but she must realize that since is an "animal" she must never see him again. Even though María is still quite young at this time she has to learn about how love can hurt for no reason at all.  




2. Rolling In The Deep - Adele (Robert)
      María is taken away from Matt and is not allowed to see her anymore. "Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep" is a quote from the song, which strongly relates to the book where María is taken away from Matt, this is because María is taken away from Matt against her own will and she is crying and sad because she misses him.

3. Somebody Like You - Keith Urban (André)

      This relates to María because it is how she feels when she is actually with Matt, even though the singer is supposed to be a man, but if you change a few words then it still makes sense for María. It talks about how it makes her feel when she is with Matt, as shown where it says "Couldn't walk a straight line even if I wanted to," before she met him, and "I used to run in circles goin' no-where fast." But now everything in her life has changed after meeting him.

4. Old Blue - The Byrds (André)
      This song is what I think María would listen to after Furball died, because it is not a sad song that makes you remember that her dog is dead. But instead makes her remember the good times she had with the dog. I think this song would make her feel better after her dog died and help her think positive thoughts.








5. I Love you like a Love Song – Selena Gomez (Ron)

This is a love song that Maria may listen to because she feels like she is in love with Matt. Through this song it could be used to express the love between Matt and Maria. This love song is very upbeat and happier, so Maria would listen to this song when they are with each other and not separated, because of the mood of the song. Maria forgave him and loved him all the same even when she thought that he killed Furball in chapter 16. The fact that she forgave him for the murder of her dog which she loved so much. She even forgave him for his actions and behavior at his party, which I think was very big of her.  

6.  Set fire to the Rain – Adele (Ron)

Well this song is about how even when it feels like there is no hope, love can conquer all, and I think that that reflects what is one of the themes in the book. Maria is separated and when they are escaping they are scared for Matt’s life. Through all the separation while Maria was not allowed to see Matt for a long time in his childhood, and they still had hope and they did meet again. Love does really conquer all.  This song is a song for when you are feeling down, and to show you that there is still hope. So Maria would listen to this song before and probably while she was going to meet Matt again at El Viejo funeral.

7. I want to break free - Queen (Matt)






8. Hot and Cold - Katy Perry (Matt)
The resin that I have chosen the song "Hot and Cold" by Katey Perry was because Maria seems to change her mind a lot.  She has a lot of emotions that change very quickly about people such as Matt.  In the song it says, "your hot then you cold," meaning that there is no way that "you" or Maria cannot keep changing the opinion, emotions, or decisions in life.




9. 






10.

Border Control: The HUMAN Aspect

Article Adress: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdEKoXtxxnWBQdVjpszer-M-dC3Q?docId=d6f94b63861349b0a64682cff0c88789            

             When Celia told Matt about when she tried to run, I was quite shocked. I found an article about an illegal immigrant faced the problem of being deported back to Mexico. He had to leave his wife behind in L.A. Agustin traveled through Mexico to get his wives children, they were cause by Mexico and U.S border guards, and their lives were threatened on multiple occasions by gangs and drug smugglers. Agustin illegally crossed the boarder to live in the U.S. He again gave that up to travel to smuggle his wives children back to the U.S. Later on, he went back to Tijuana to be with his family, for the reason that he did not know if he would live through a hernia that he had developed. Because of his hernia there was no way for Agustin to make it back into the U.S alive. His wife still visited him every week and they considered buying a house there incase their sons ever got deported. As in this article I think that Celia tried to run so she could be free. South of the border in both the book, and reality, sounds dangerous. I mainly think that Celia tried to run for freedom and safety, while Agustin ran so he could survive. Illegal immigrants face death every time they try to cross into the U.S. When people are faced with deadly circumstances (i.e low income, drugs, murder, etc) they do whatever possible to escape those circumstances. I think thats what Agustin, and Celia did, but their motives are slightly different. 

Border Control: The Issues in Depth

http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal-immigration-from-mexico.html

In the book, when Celia tells Matt about her story, she  talks about how she got a coyote to help her illegally cross the border. When she gets caught she is brought to El Patron and she is not turned into an eejit because she is from the same village that El Patron is from.  This can definitely be related to the real world because on the US/Mexico there is a lot of problems with illegals trying to jump the border. During the 1980's the US have increased security across the borer between Mexico and the US, and security has just gotten better over the years. Especially after the 9/11 attacks, security has been tighter than ever and made it very hard for Illegals to get across the border, but it is still a very big problem because people are still making it over the border. Like in the book, Mexicans find the US very appealing because of the opportunities, and they think they will become rich. In the US there are more jobs to fit the needs of the citizens living there, and there are many more job opportunities in the US than there are in Mexico. More jobs are being created thanks to some American companies but wages are still relatively low, which is drastically affecting quality of living. Many Mexican citizens are also in the Agricultural business and they tend to be paid even less, putting them below the poverty line. 25% of MExican citizens are underpaid/underemployed and barely staying above the poverty line. "Coyotes" are becoming an increasing problem on the US-Mexico border. "Coyotes" are people who have special knowledge of a route that is used to get into the US without being detected, and accept a fee to help others illegally cross the border, they are also known as people smugglers. If a "Coyote" is caught they can face heavy fines and penalties. Illegal immigrants will eventually be retired to Mexico. Unlike the book, where they capture illegals that try to cross the border and turn them into slaves, which is a very inhumane thing to do. The book is quite accurate with people jumping the border and in the book there are not only people trying to get into the US, but people from the US are trying to get into Mexico, "so the paradise that once was there is not there any more" (Farmer 2002).

Illegal immigration border crossing

I don't have an article (no internet at home).


Celia was originally from a small town, which is the same town that El Patron was from as well.  I don’t have Internet so instead I am going to talk about some immigration that I have learned.  Celia was telling a story about how she escaped her town but was caught.  The person that helped her cross the border was called a “coyote” in the book.  After some research there are actually people in the world that do this job as a coyote.  There are actually people like Celia that needs to get out of their own country, and if El Patron did not go in the room that she was in and hear the same ascent that he heard as a kid.  Illegal immigrants coming into any country there are always risks and with Celia’s story sound similar to every other real story except with a better ending.  I think that Celia got really lucky in the way that she did.  Celia’s reason is similar to most cases of people crossing a border and that is for freedom and safety.  

Round Table #3

This is our round table, and we talked about which person we are going to do a music playlist for.

Casting the Novel

Instructions:

1. Create a Cast the Novel page on your blog

2. Brainstorm which characters you will include in this initial round of casting

3. Expand your brainstorm to look at specifics for each character

4. Find supporting details to back up your specifics

5. Find the actors/actresses that best fit the characters your group has chosen

Characters Included:

El Patrón - Donald Sutherland

(Page 54) - Thin, shoulder length white hair, very wrinkled face

Matteo Alacrán - Asa Butterfield

(N/A) - Dark brown hair, Brown eyes, Tan skin,

 Tam Lin - Gerard Butler

(Page 63) - Thick neck, Flat nose, Scars on face and arms, Curling brown hair, Ruddy face, Bright blue eyes, "weird looking" ears

 

María - Bailee Madison

(N/A) - Brown hair, dark eyes, kind, enthusiastic, talkative

Celia - Giovanna Zacarias

(Page 9) - Black Hair, Olive Skin

Setting...the scene

Nancy Farmer chose an interesting non-existent country in the future, a small country named Opium located between the United States and the New Mexico which is named Aztlán. Opium is completely dedicated to the production and marketing of drugs, it also manages border control for the United States and Aztlán. the precise location of the country is because of border control, and the US government made an agreement to Opium to manage border control and in return they are permitted to grow and sell drugs to anyone except to the citizens of Aztlán or the United States. I think one of the reasons that Farmer decided to choose this area and this time period, because she wanted to demonstrate discrimination and hatred to a person through futuristic type events, which you usually do not see. Usually you find stories of discrimination in past settings, when there was no real laws or legislation for protection of people's differences. So making a novel about discrimination to human clones, which is futuristic is interesting and unique and I think that is what Farmer was going for. Why she chose the location I not so sure, but one reason that I could think of was maybe she also wanted to talk a little about future US and Mexico. In the book, El Patron says that there are just as many people from the US trying to jump the border into Aztlán as there are going to the US. So that is hinting that the paradise that once was there, is not there anymore and Matt did figure that out, and that is almost a direct quote from the book. I think that the setting itself with a futuristic country, was very interesting in it self, and that could help aid with hooking the reader. It says online that Nancy Farmer's birth place is Phoenix, Arizona and that borders Mexico, that could also be another reason that she must have picked that location. Either way, I know that I couldn't pry my fingers from the book when I was reading it.

Picture This: Setting

        Farmer makes is very clear that this book takes place in the future in a country that does not exist in-between the United States and Azltán (what used to be Mexico) called Opium. There is a big area on the border on the north and south side of the country that is patrolled by the "Farm Patrol". I think that Farmer chose this as the setting because it shows the reader really how trapped people like Matt are. It shows the reader how these people are in a country named after a famous, and possibly deadly drug, they are ruled by a massive drug lord, and they have no hope of escape. As small as the Farm Patrol are in this book, I think they have a really big impact. Because if this was taking place in the country somewhere in say, the U.S then it would be much easier for them to escape, because you can't really have people riding around on horses capturing and shooting people in the U.S. I also think that the fact that Opium is a whole country has a large impact, this is because if it was a small area somewhere nicknamed Opium you would think, "Oh, thats kind of a sketchy sounding place". But when its a whole country called Opium and no one is allowed to leave you think "Oh, thats horrible, how will this turn out". I think the fact that its a whole country also gets your mind stirring too, because its not everyday you heard about a whole country named Opium thats ruled by a drug lord, and has agreements with the U.S.

Setting... then clever title

In the book The House of The Scorpion, Nancy Farmer implies that the book is set some time in the future, because Mexico is a country that used to exist and cloning humans has been going on for a while. She uses this setting to explain Matt, the clone of El Patrón, but this setting also means that she can change everything about anything just as much as she wants to, she just has to say how these changes occurred. It takes place in between, what used to be Mexico and what is still the U.S.A. Farmer chose Opium to show that it is a country used mainly for drug use, as it is named after the drug it produces. This place also gives away where the eejits come from, because if someone is caught by the farm patrol trying to cross the border, this is what they become. This also adds to the story in that it shows us how powerful drug lords are in the world at this time, since they have created an entire country for their business. I believe that people still hate Opium because of its use for drugs and nothing else, and I feel they are somewhat cut off from the world because of this (other than through the marketing of drugs). On the other hand, all of these people from the United States came in hovercrafts to El Patrón's birthday party, but this may have been just to make sure they keep the border patrol running. I don't know how cut off from the world they are, or if they are at all, but all of the experiences that Matt had seem to describe a time in the past than the present whether he is in the big house or the little one in the fields. There are a lot of reasons to believe this takes place in the future (hovercrafts, clones, etc), but still many things that seem older than our time now (cowboy movies, little wooden houses, etc). I don't know why it is like that, but I just have to read more to find out.

Hate Crimes on Clones?

          Why does everyone hate clones? Throughout the beginning of this story I was slightly confused why Matt wasn't allowed to show himself to anyone outside, or leave the house. When Celia talked about him being "loaned" I clued in that he was the embryo that Eduardo planted inside the cow, the special one that he did not "make stupid". This still didn't answer the question I developed later on, why does everyone hate clones? Everyone treated him equally as a human being until they saw some tattoo on his foot that deciphered human from clone, then they treated him like trash, literally. Rosa the person who was "taking care" of him in his room, ended up hardly feeding him, making fun of him, and abusing him. She even thought he was so much like an animal she took away his waste bucket and covered the floor in saw dust. This made me think, he looks like a human, inside in out, he acts like a human, he is just exactly identical to another human, and he was treated as a human until a tattoo on his foot singled him out. I have noticed that a select few people don't care that he is a clone, such as Maria, and Celia. If no one noticed the tattoo on his foot he would have been treated the same by everyone. So why do they have to single him out?

Scorpion: The Symbol Revealed

In the beginning of the book, while Matteo Alacran was being dragged to the big house, he saw a symbol of a scorpion on engraved on the outside wall. I think this was what the book was named after, since it is the big house, which could be the house of the scorpion. In the first round table discussion, I thought it might have been about a family ("house of" sometimes refers to a last name), so I searched Alacrán in google translate and it means scorpion in spanish. I believe that the the entire Alacrán family is probably living in the big house. The scorpion could still symbolize more than that, but that is all that I know so far. I do not know why they are called the scorpions, and I do not know if there is more meaning behind the scorpion than just that sign and the last name. There are a lot of people in the Alacrán family as shown in the family tree, and El Patrón is obviously a very powerful person since his clones mind was the only one not destroyed at harvesting. I still have not found out whether there is more to the scorpion than their last name, but I think that is at least part of the reason. There has not been much said about scorpions, and the only time that it is ever mentioned so far is in the title and on the big house. I am hoping to find more on this symbol, because I doubt that Farmer would have just called a book House of the Scorpion because of their last name; I think it goes deeper than that. It is possible that she is comparing the family with scorpions, that they are dangerous, no one can see them until after they sting, etc. but it could mean just about anything at this point.

Matteo Alacrán: Naughty or Nice?

         Stupid, Freak, Creep, Weirdo, Filthy Clone, Bad Animal. If you know it or not many of these words definitely affect a person and when someone is emotionally and verbally attacked they become very scared of the outside world and tries to stop interacting socially and with the world. Matteo Alacran was isolated within a house and then within a cell filled with saw dust, because of those reasons his social interactions were very awkward, and he did not get to develop his communicative skills. He does not know very much about the outside world other than animals and bugs that he brings into his cell when he buries food, meat, and bones to rot. While he is imprisoned he becomes much of a naturalist. During the ages of 0-6, he is a naive kid, and because of all the isolation and cruelty, he becomes very quiet and very scared of anything new. He is mentally and emotionally scarred, and this will affect him through his personal characteristics as he is going through his youth. While he is imprisoned, he is very kind, but soon he becomes ill-tempered and can sometimes be quite rude. Throughout his childhood he is cruelly treated and that really affects his personality as a growing individual. Originally when he was kept inside the house, he was very eager and curious about the outside world and other humans. But all of that changed when he was singled out as a clone and was mistreated, so this curiosity soon turned into fear. Matteo Alacrán continued to receive cruel treatment throughout his childhood and this deeply affects his personality and growth as an individual throughout the story.