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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The House of the Scorpion, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Free Will vs. Predetermination
Scientific Ethics and Abuse
Language, Law, and Dehumanization
Abuse of Power and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
That night, Celia wakes Matt up and rushes him to get ready. Matt is still trying to reconcile his friendly encounter with the Farm Patrol and the scary stories Celia used to tell him about them. He realizes the agents where cruel to him before they discovered who he was. Celia hurries Matt along but insists he eat first. The food tastes strange and Matt feels sick.
Matt’s conflict about the disparity between his experiences with Farm Patrol and Celia’s horror stories suggest that the Farm Patrol abuses the lowest members of society. Celia’s strangeness surrounding the food hint as something sinister and mysterious taking place.
Themes
Two bodyguards lead Matt and Celia to the hospital. One of the guards tells Matt that El Patrón has had a heart attack. Matt suddenly throws up. At the hospital, doctors lift him onto a stretcher. Matt continues to vomit and begins to hallucinate that he sees Furball, then Saint Francis, then Tam Lin. He realizes he is actually in a hospital room with Tam Lin. Tam Lin tells him El Patrón is still alive because the doctors placed a smaller donor heart next to his own heart to regulate it.
The presence of the bodyguards hints at a restriction of freedom and a potential threat for Matt. Matt’s hallucinations imply not only his physical illness but his conflicted conscience, as each figure he envisions has had an influence on his concept of moral consequences. El Patrón’s survival shows the incredible power of science to extend his life, though at an uncertain cost—it is not specified who supplied the donor heart.
Themes
Matt tells Tam Lin he went out to the wastelands and Tam Lin says that must be why Matt was so sick. Tam Lin scolds him for doing something dangerous. Matt wonders silently how Tam Lin can criticize him after what Tam Lin did to those school children. Celia comes in and cries over his bed.
Tam Lin’s expectation of Matt to be moral, even though he himself has committed an immoral act, reflects his moral code where he believes that because Matt is young, he must choose to make moral choices before his life goes down the wrong path. Unlike the general consensus of their society, Tam Lin clearly believes that Matt is inherently human and has the capacity to determine his own destiny rather than conforming to others’ expectations.
Themes
El Patrón survives, but his health is severely declined. Not even diamonds from his secret tomb can bring him happiness anymore. Matt suggests El Patrón donate to the poor, like Saint Francis, to find happiness. This sends El Patrón into a rage. He rants about the empire of El Dorado, where El Dorado lived in a golden house and was worshipped like a god.
El Patrón’s outrage further emphasizes his selfishness and his commitment to never letting any of his possessions go. His mention of El Dorado being worshipped as a god references his own view of himself as all-powerful.
Themes
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Tam Lin later compliments Matt for bringing some emotion back into El Patrón by suggesting he give away a part of his “dragon hoard.” Matt questions if the dragons in the myths are happy with their riches. They have this conversation in Celia’s garden, where she has recently replaced vegetable plants with flowers.
The myth of the dragon hoard implies that El Patrón may share similarly monstrous qualities to a dragon. Celia’s replacement of her vegetable garden with flowers further highlights her increasingly mysterious behavior, suggesting that she is dealing with a situation that is beyond Matt’s knowledge despite their close relationship.
Themes
