The House of the Scorpion-Sean Mahoney

The House of The Scorpion

Nancy Farmer

Beginning – End

9


The book The House of the Scorpion is an amazing book set in the sometime around the year 2100 in Aztlán, which is basically the border area between Mexico and the United States. It has turned into a major drug area where drugs are grown and harvested by Eejits which are people who have had a computer chip put into their brain to make not be able to think for themselves. The book is about Matteo Alacrán, also known as Matt, who is the main character of the book. Matt is actually a clone of the real Matteo Alacrán who is 140 years old in this book thanks to the new technology that has come about. The real Matteo is the owner of basically all of Aztlán and controls all the illegal drugs that go in and out. The U.S. and Mexico let him get away with this because he stops immigrants that go in and out with the Farm Patrol. They basically patrol Aztlán and stop people from getting through and hand them over to be turned into Eejits. That is basically what Aztlán is and everything that happens in it.

The book’s actual story starts with explaining the process of how clones are made and the birth of Matt. He lives with Celia who is basically his mother but he longs to see the outside world. One day some kids were walking by and he wants to talk to them so he smashed a window to get out but he didn’t realize the dangers so he ran barefoot onto broken glass. They took him to the manor on the estate but when they realize he’s a clone they throw him into a cell with a cruel woman named Rosa who makes him live in chicken litter. He finally gets out and actually starts to live a life and he makes a very kind and caring friend named Maria. He befriends his bodyguard named Tam Lin who teaches very many useful life skills. Eventually, he runs away from the estate for reasons you’ll have to find out yourself and lives in the real world which is very different because the real Matteo Alacrán tries to keep his estate in the past. The rest is up for you too read if you want to find out. This is a great book about a young man’s journey to basically find out what his true role in life his. The book The House of the Scorpion is an amazing book with heartwarming characters and a great storyline, both of which are probably reasons it has won three awards.

I think that this story is a good book and it really does get to think about some of the things that possibly go on today. An example is the governments letting the drug trade run rampant in the book because they actually help them out. That is a possibility in real life today that you have to think of. Something else this book has you thinking of is what kind of technology will we have in the future, will we have those horrible computer chips to turn people into Eejits. I can’t think of anything worse than to not be able to think for yourself. Will have the technology to be able to let people live pretty healthily for 140 years, granted in the book Matteo Alacrán is on of the richest men in the world. I think this book is more than just a story, I think that the author is trying to get you to think about possibilities like the ones that I have mentioned. There is even more ideas that are presented in the book, but you’ll have to read to find out.