House Of The Scorpion Theme Analysis

555 Words3 Pages

Does a single sentence have the power to change fate? The House of the Scorpion follows Matt’s journey through life being a clone of El Patrón. El Patrón is a drug lord who gained enough money and power to start a country (Opium). Matt has to learn live life in Opium (which is 100 years in the past) and to survive being a clone only created for organs. Although Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion explores the themes of identity and science, it mostly conveys the theme of choices are made and consequences given. Nancy Farmer discussed a great deal of themes- including science , identity and choices. Science is a prevalent theme in The House of the Scorpion because the novel revolves around Matt's life as a clone and what running a society 100 years in the past is like. Identity is prevalent in The House of the Scorpion because it follows Mat’s struggle with his sense of self when being treated like he is worthless. However, the most important theme is …show more content…

Matt sees the consequence of throwing moldy fruit at Tom, “If you throw a rotten orange at someone’s face, you can bet that the orange will sooner or later come flying back. In less than an hour, Tom returned with a peashooter”(Farmer 46). This shows how Matt’s decision to sling fruit at Tom, made Tom sling peas at him. Nancy Farmer writes, “‘Tam Lin did what he wanted to do,’ Celia said. ‘He was guilty of a terrible crime when he was young and he never could forgive himself for it…’”(Farmer 377). When Tam Lin decided to bomb the building, he chooses to neglect that others who might die. Feeling guilty for his actions, he set his fate to hate himself. This display of causality is what keeps the story tied together and following the path it takes. The House of the Scorpion has a theme of choices (even the ones that seem unimportant) deciding one’s fate , consequently that is what happens in real life