An important element throughout The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is the impact of words and the power that it comes with. This novel tells the story of a clone to an extremely powerful drug lord named El Patron. The clone, named Matt, lived the first six years of his life away from the rest of society with no one but his mother figure, Celia, as company. However, Matt grew curious and left his isolated home only to discover that he was a clone and how horribly he was treated because of it. The story continues on, discussing Matt’s journey of discovering what being a clone truly is, and his adventure to freedom. Matt, with the help of the few people who didn’t consider him a wild beast, set out to piece the community back together, eliminating the evil methods that El Patron had devised. As mentioned before, an important piece of this story is how deep words can impact our lives and the immense power that they truly have. How could an exact duplicate of a human not be considered human? The answer to such a question is simple: through the power of words. “‘No one can tell the difference between a clone and a human. That’s because there isn’t any difference. The idea of the clones being inferior is a filthy lie’” (Farmer 245). The dehumanization of clones in this society is just a moral excuse to get away with treating them like livestock for their own selfish needs. People in this society, such as El Patron, take the lives of clones in order to extend their own life, and what could be considered murder is merely a casual occurrence, considering the lie that clones are beneath humans. But Matt, with the help of the few who loved him, had a chance to escape this terrible fate and change their society for the better. This interesting concept of dehumanization and how what people say can impact an entire society is a great discussion point that truly interested me throughout the story.

One aspect of the novel that might be confusing for some is why Matt is treated so poorly by most everyone, even though El Patron treats him well. Everyone seems to respect El Patron, and only tolerate Matt when he is around, but it may be confusing why the powerful old man treats Matt so well when almost everyone else treats him like a filthy animal. The answer comes into light later in the book, when you realize that there seems to be some kind of secret that everyone except for Matt is in on. To clarify, El Patron only treats Matt well because he knows what he can do for him: extend his already over-extended life. El Patron is afraid of death, and he created Matt, his clone, so he could escape death, as he has done with many clones before Matt. The truth is that few liked El Patron, but once El Patron claims an item of his as his own, he never lets go. And that includes people. The terrible lie that clones are more animal than human is told to children at a young age, which explains why Matt is treated so horribly. El Patron only treated Matt well for selfish reasons, making sure he was always healthy so one day he could give El Patron a transplant when he needed one. These ideas become clearer as the book continues, but this information is key to understand if you are confused why El Patron treats Matt so well while the others do the opposite.

I thought this dystopian story was different from many other books I have read before. I have not read many books that involved cloning, which was thought-proving in the way that it shows a possible future society. However, the book did not only focus on clones, but the dehumanization that it comes with in order for it to seem okay to murder these human DNA duplicates for their own benefit. Themes that came to light throughout the book such as discrimination, greed, and power really made me think of our own world, and how we can relate. One quote that stood out to me described El Patron and I thought it was an excellent description of the character, “‘Very dark indeed is his majesty when he wants to be. When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other. He grew large and green until he shadowed over the whole forest, but most of his branches are twisted’”(87). Overall, I found the book to be deeply thought-provoking and original that left me hungry for more.

The most meaningful idea that I took away from reading this book is that what you are told from a young age is the basis of understanding of your entire world, and when someone tells you a truth that you believed different your whole life, it can be difficult to accept the change, especially if it disrupts the entire foundation of knowledge that you believed to be true. “‘When you’re small, you can choose which way to grow. If you’re kind and decent, you grow into a kind and decent man’”(70). This concept is shown in The House of the Scorpion in several aspects. For example, when Matt read the book that Maria’s mother had written, he was disgusted at what seemed to be horrible lies that the book told. Maria’s mother told in her book how El Patron was a terrible, evil man who’s reasoning for everything went back to pure selfishness. Upon reading this the first time, Matt threw the book into the river in horror, as he had always had a connection with the old man. Even later, when Matt realized that Maria’s mother spoke the truth, and knew that El Patron only treated him well because he was waiting for the day when he would need an organ transplant that could only be given to him by Matt in order to extend his own life, he still found it difficult to let go. Children are told that clones are disgusting animals that are far below the human, yet clones are just the same. A vicious cycle of deception is what led to slavery and discrimination in our own world. This idea is important throughout the book, and again shows the true power in words. Even Matt believed himself as an animal, not human, because that was what he was always told. Other people might be able to learn from reading this book is to take into consideration that there is a right and a wrong in our world, and to do the right thing is not about what others tell you to do, but what you believe is right. You will make mistakes and pick the wrong choice at times, but that is part of learning, and when it comes down to it, you will do the right thing when it matters if you choose to do so, just as Matt did in The House of the Scorpion.