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Themes In The House Of The Scorpion

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Power is a very evil thing in the hands of certain people. In the novel, The House of the Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer a clear and complete theme is shown through multiple unique and diverse characters. The book is about a boy named Matt, who is a clone of a drug lord named El Patron. Matt is brought to El Patron's home where he learns clones are only used for transplants and will die at the age of fourteen. Matt and his friend Maria get help from the bodyguard Tam Lin and cook Celia to try to get Matt out of the house before he can be used for transplants and die. The clear theme in this book is how power corrupts those who have it. This is present in the two characters Matt, and El Patron. Both, when given power make wrong, and bad decisions. …show more content…
“‘He’ll never let MacGregor have Tom even though he can’t stand the boy’” (page 140). In other words, this knowledge stated by Celia means El Patron never lets anything go that he has ever come across him in his life, even if it does not belong to him or he does not like it. Tom is MacGregor’s son and El Patron hates him, but El Patron still holds on to him due to his corruption with power. It causes him to hold onto the child that he hates who is not even a blood relative. This is one example of how power corrupts people. It makes them not able to let anything go at all costs. El Patron has the power to do these things, and the power in his hands leads him to make everything his. “Took out a syringe… Felicia’s arm was swabbed and the needle jammed in” (page 89). Also, “Benito’s wife was almost as loaded as Felicia” (page 213). Both of these quotes from the book The House of the Scorpion show how El Patron has women drugged to keep them under control and to keep them from being rebellious. These two women are rebellious because El Patron forced them to marry his children, without their consent. This is another example of El Patron’s cruel and unforgiving nature. His power allows him to do this and almost anything he wants. He uses his power and drugs to keep rebellious family under control, and force them into marriage. Those who are not a part of his family that …show more content…
El Patron uses it to drug, hold onto everything, and kill. Matt can use his status to do what he pleases, give dangerous orders, and be immune from punishments for his actions. These corruptions come with power. When given power many people will use it badly and become corrupt as El Patron and Matt did. When given power they both make bad decisions affecting everyone in their lives. That is why people need to know that power corrupts all people, and leads to bad decisions. The way people most people use power is for bad causes. People who have power need to know and remember to be careful with their power because this can lead to corruption and endangering the people you love. Power can lead to corruption in some people's hands. Power can be a very evil thing and this book teaches people to be careful when given

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