House of the Scorpion Blog

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is a 380 page novel of

action and cliffhangers. The main characters are Matt, Maria, Tam Lin, Celia, El Patron, and the antagonist, Tom. Matt is the name of a clone who lives as property of El Patron. His mother, Celia, works as a cook for El Patron and all his close friends and relatives. Maria is a girl who took a liking to Matt, and Matt a liking to her. And Tam Lin is the bodyguard assigned to Matt by El Patron. Tom is an evil-hearted prankster who makes life tough for Matt and Maria. Unfortunately, Tom is not the only one who does not fully love Matt. Matt must battle these hardships and unravel his life’s mystery. Matt discovers that El Patron intends to use him as a source of transplant (to give the old man a new kidney, heart, etc.). With the help of his close friends, Matt is able to run off in search of a better life. Though not right away, Matt finds some new friends and a happy ending.
Matt was always bickering with Tom since the time they first met when Tom made fun of Matt, Matt threw a rotten orange at Tom, and Tom shot Matt with painful peas from a peashooter. Matt was angered when Tom did horrible things to Maria and was always in a sour argument with Tom. Once, Tom put Maria’s beloved dog in the toilet and Matt was grumpy and yelled at Tom because he was sure Tom had done it but couldn’t prove it. Another time, Tom took Matt’s dear teddy bear and ripped off the ears and an eye. Matt was so furious that he was at loss of words and could only glare fiercely. Not to mention all the name calling that went on. Those two were always fighting!