The House Of The Scorpion-Theme

The house of the scorpions, theme.
The theme for the house of the scorpion by Nancy Farmer is that choices determine who you will be for the rest of your life, making choices that are good for people will lead you to become a friendly, strong and successful person like Matt, or you could make choices that are bad for people and become like El Patron, who is very powerful but hated by everyone and is said to be very evil. The choices Matt makes in this novel lead him to own a strip of land called Opium. Also the choices that you make will affect how people will react towards your wellbeing such as Tam Lin makes a decision to let Matt do dangerous things that could have hurt both of them but let Matt be a real kid and he treated Matt as en equal which gained him Matt’s respect.

Questions:
1.If you were placed in Matt’s situation, would you have made the same choices as him?
2.Have you ever made choices that have hurt or helped others?
3.Why do you think Matt made the choices he did?
4.Do you think that Tam Lin made good choices?
5.What kind of choices would El Patron have made when he was around Matt’s age?
6.What kind of person would Maria become if she continues to make similar choices?
7.What kind of person is Celia in your opinion?
8.Will Matt be hated by everyone if he continues to make his choices?
9.What would make someone want to wish that they can live for ever?
10. Do you think that the theme was appropiate for the story?

The House of the Scorpion - Plot

Matteo (Matt) Alacran is a clone of El Patron, lord of a strip of land called Opium. He is dislikes by almost everyone living on the estate, which is made up of El Patron's family. El Patron, Celia and Maria are the only ones who cares for Matt at first. Eventually he becomes friends with a girl named Maria. After growing up with Celia in a cabin far from the main estate. One day he is discovered by two children, Steven and Emilia. When he jumps out the broken window to get to them he falls on some glass and cuts his foot. The children carried him to the estate to help him. Rosa a mean maid cares for him at first but when she found out he was a clone she makes him live in saw dust and chicken liter for months. When El Patron found out, Matt was released and was better taken care of. As he grew up, he was known as “the clone” among almost everyone on the estate, but he was assigned a bodyguard named Tam Lin who was very good to him and helped him survive the horrible life he had. But when El Patron needed a heart transplant from Matt, he ran away.

In Matt's travels, he had to live with a group of boys under the command of the Keepers. This was because he was on his way to see Maria at her convent and to get a plane there, he was told he just had to live and work with these people for awhile. Matt was lied to and had to do physical work for months. When he tried to run away with a friends they were found and were pushed into the bone yard, which were almost impossible to get out of./ When they did come out, they were terribly bruised and still had infections from some of the work they had to do earlier.

When Matt got out he found out that Opium was under lock down and only a few people remained alive, El Patron wanted to live forever or everyone else to die with him. With El Patron dead the estate is left to Matt as he sets out to shut it down from within, and wake up all the eejits.

1. What does Celia tell Matt about the children at the Big House?
2. How does Matt get injured at the beginning of the book?
3. How does Rosa treat Matt once the doctor leaves?
4. What does Felicia and Tom do to get Matt to meet with Maria after the birthday party?
5. What do Matt, Maria, and Tom see at the hospital and how does it act?
6. Why is Matt so sure that El Patron will never use him for spare parts like other clones are?
7. Where does Tam Lin take Matt when they go for a picnic?
8. Who killed Maria's dog (furball), and how?
9. What does Matt find at the oasis when he goes alone?
10. What did Tam Lin do to get brought to stay with El Patron?