The House Of The Scorpions By Nancy Farmer

Have you ever felt like growing up is hard? But mostly everyone knows that growing up is a part of life. But how would growing up as a clone in an alternate future be different? The book The House of the Scorpions is a book, written by Nancy Farmer, based in the far future of the 2100s. The book is about a clone named Matt that is a clone of a mass drug lord also named Matteo Alacran, but well know as El Patron. Matt goes on an adventure of discovery and escape in order to survive from the main antagonist, El Patron. He is helped on his journey by several friends and family members. Nancy Farmer in the novel is trying to express many messages, but one of the most notable themes is growing up and sees Matt realizing that pain is a part of growing

One place Matt starts to learn about himself is on page 23. It states “ ‘You idiot! You need a vet for this little beast!’ ” Mr. Alacran, one of the antagonists, yells at Steven, Mr. Alacran’s son, after he brought Matt into the house to get medical attention. After Mr. Alacran exclaims that, Matt gets a hint of what he actually could be, but still he in this chapter is between the ages of zero and six years of age, so he doesn’t really take it as anything but an insult. Also a great example of Matt being treated as a lesser person is when Rosa, a housekeeper, is put in charge of Matt. On page 39, Nancy Farmer writes “ ‘Bleating won’t save you, you good-for-nothing animal…’ ” Rosa pulled Matt’s hair in this instance because she blames Matt for her love interest leaving her behind. Since Rosa sees Matt as this good-for-nothing animal, she abuses Matt and locks him up like an animal. This is one of the better examples of Matt being treated differently and learning how other people view him as a person. The final example of Matt having to live with the fact that others think of him as an animal is on page 64. The text states “He was ignored. Not mistreated, just ignored.” This happens after Matt is acquainted with El Patron. Beforehand El Patron had mentioned that if anyone were to hurt Matt, he would punish them. Now Matt is still thought as

One main example of Matt learning about his life and fate is in the chapter called Coming-of-Age. The Tam Lin, the bodyguard, states “ ‘You were grown in that poor cow for nine months, and then you were cut out of her. You were harvested. She was sacrificed.’ ” Once Tam Lin says that, Matt starts to think about how he’s not a normal person. He was an experiment grown out of a cow and that he doesn’t really have a human birth mother. More evidence from the text is on pages 191 to 192. On those pages Matt realizes that El Patron wants to use Matt for his organs to prolong his life, killing Matt. He then thinks about why El Patron had given him an almost perfect life; a great home, meals, accessories and anything else Matt could ever want, but then he sees that he is just doing all those things because all El Patron sees in Matt is himself. Another thing Matt starts to think about is the other clones that El Patron has already killed for their organs.The last of many instances where Matt learns about others and himself, is when he learns about Tam Lin’s past. Matt learns about this truth from two patrol officers that found him roaming around and thought he was an illegal immigrant. The text states “ ‘What did Tam Lin do, he (Matt) urged. “Only set a bomb outside the prime minister’s house in London…” … “The blast killed twenty kiddies.” This is one of the