Individual post Austin:
What are you going to explore from this first section of the novel?
What are you wondering about?What are you going to explore from this first section of the novel?
- At first i was confused about why he was not allowed to go outside but after he was captured and we found out that he was a clone keeping him inside was the only way to keep him safe.
- I also did not know what a Chupacabra was but i now know that it is the goat sucker and many people tell their children about them.
- I wonder why they create the clones because they take the minds out of most of them so it doesn't make sense to keep them alive or even create them.
- Matt is a clone but he still has his mind so why did they keep him with a brain.
- Why is Celia protecting Matt and who is she.
- Who is Matt a clone of and why aren’t they looking after Matt.
- Why do they believe that Matt is a clone.
- Why do they consider Matt an animal or a monster just for being a clone.
- Why do all of the people hate Matt
- Why does Celia want no one to know that he exsists.
- Who was the person at the beginning of the book and why was he creating the clones.
- Why was Celia so angry that Matt referred to him as her mother.
- What does Celia mean by Matt is a lone to Her.
- Has anything struck you about this section?
- It was interesting that they were so disgusted that he is a clone and why everyone seemed to hate him because he is a clone.
- It struck me that Celia was hiding Matt and had never told him what he was.
- It was weird that Maria was the only one that seemed to accept Matt and not care what he was.
- It was weird how they thought Matt to be normal because he seemed normal but they could not tell the difference until they saw the marking on the foot.
- Matt is a clone and it was weird that they even created clones.
- It is very strange that Celia was taking care of him and she described him as a lone to her.
- It was very weird how Celia seemed angry and even snapped at Matt when he called her his mother.
- I don’t understand why they would hate Matt just because he is made differently then them, even though he acts like a regular human.
- It is weird that Celia is trying to shelter Matt from the world and is only exposing him to the TV and magazines.
Why is Farmer making the choices that she is in this first section?
- Why do people hate clones so much?
- Why do they usually destroys clones minds?
- Why does Maria come down to see Matt even though everyone tell her not too?
- Why does Celia like Matt, even though everyone hates him?
- Why do they call Matt “it” not Matt or “him”?
- Farmer makes the reader believe that Matt can’t go outside because its dangerous but really he can’t go outside because he is a clone and people in this story hate clones.
- She is trying to tell us how Matts character is going to be like in the rest of the life.
- in this section she is trying to make you want to read more and more to find out things like:
- Who are the people that come to the door?
- Who is his mother really?
• What are you wondering about?
• Has anything struck you about this section?
• Why is Farmer making the choices that she is in this first section?
• What are you wondering about?
-why are the people referring to him as an animal?
-where was Celia when he was in the jail?
-how far away in the future is this?
-who is Celia?
- why do they hate the clones?
- why do people hate Matt?
• Has anything struck you about this section?
- why do they treat clones really bad?
• Why is Farmer making the choices that she is in this first section?
- she is trying to hook you in with “is he going to live or is he going to die?”
- who is his mom? real mom?
Going into this novel by Nancy Farmer entitled “The House of Scorpion”, I was seriously thinking and inquisitive about the name and why is it called the house of scorpion. I believe that the first thought that we all had before reading the back of the book and finding a little more about the storyline is that this is going to be some Fear Factor type book which has scorpions in the storyline. After reading a few chapters in, we find out the reality of the name which is due to the family name’s meaning. Furthermore, in Chapter 1 we were introduced to the basis of the main character Matt and basically who he is which is a clone. I was really struck by the detail of the cloning process described by Farmer and more importantly the transitions that Farmer uses to describe different scenes. Vivid images can be formed from the writing that Farmer is at, and this allows us to visualize what essentially is happening in the story. Lastly, I believe that Farmer made the choices that she made in the first section to simply set the basis foundation of the character she is going to send into love, terror, violence, scrutiny, etc. In addition, Farmer must also be thinking to grab the attention of the reader immediately and also start the suspense of the storyline which surely worked for me!
My Individual Blog Post #2!
Alex!
I found it very interesting in this story how Farmer had Matt and Celia live near the big house but have no one
new anything about Matt, until Steven and Emilia found him. Also I was intrigued how Farmer made Matt as a nice
and civilized boy, but when the house servants and others found out he was a clone they treated him like a
horrible and vile beast, although he didn’t deserve the treatment. A particular quotation from the book that I
found very interesting was this. “The room might look like a featureless desert to Rosa, but to him, it was a
kingdom of hidden delights.” I liked this quotation because it described the way Matt felt about his new home,
because he couldn’t do anything but use his imagination. I also believe that Tom is a foil to Matt because they are
similar age and height, but their up bringing and personalities are completely different.
The most interesting thing thus far in the book for me would be the characterization and the development of the characters. She creates such rich and interesting characters. We know a lot about Matt but we don’t know what he looks like. This was very surprising to me because when she paints a picture in our minds it is hard to complete that picture without knowing how the main character looks. The reason I think she is doing this is so we try to create our own character and learn more about the character and who they are. She is very descriptive in telling us about the character. An example would be where Tam Lin compares Matt to a photograph I think this is a very powerful Metaphor that tells you about him and how he will think of himself. Also they compare him to a beast so he will think of himself this way. She even gives us little hints that tell you about the character and if they are positive or pessimistic. An example would be when Matt talks about the prison being his Kingdom which, in My mind shows that he is independent, makes the best of the situations he is in and likes to have control over a certain situation. We see a dark part of him later in the book when he wants to use all of his power that he has. He treats people like they treat him and tries to get revenge over the people that disrespect him. This shows he likes to control and use the situation to his advantage. Later I find that he is very perceptive and seems to see through peoples lies. Tam Lin also has these powers where he can tell by looking and watching them how and know what they are hiding or trying to act over.
Philip:
The literary aspect that is most interesting to me the characterization and how farmer develops these characters into the deep meaningful characters they are now. When we first met Matt we didn't know how he acted and what he thought about the world around him. In chapters 1-9 farmer put lots of detail into the events that happen around Matt and she describes how all the characters respond to each of the events that affect them. Even though we don’t know what Matt looks like we still know the most about him because the author expressed his thoughts and what other people think of him. Farmer also developed strong relationships between each of the characters either good or bad. The protagonist is Matt he is a round and dynamic character. Dynamic as in he changes throughout the book. I believe that Tom is a foil of Matt because I view them as the same height and they are the same age but have opposite personalities.
Mitchell:
The setting is the most interesting thing that has happened in the book so far would probably be how he was
found and then was taken to the big house after he was found by the kids. and then after the people at the big house
like Rosa put him into the jail cell, it started to get interesting. when they put sawdust and wood chips into his cage and
made him go to the bathroom in wood chips was pretty gross but it shows you what they think about him, how they
think that he is like an animal and so he should be treated like an animal. The setting in this book so far has not changed
a lot, it has went from the house (or shack) in the poppy Fields, the big house and the jail cell with the wood chips. the
setting in this story is very diverse and shows off different parts of El Patrons estate from the poppy Fields to the cell to
the room with El Patron.
Individual BLOG POST #3:
Real Life Farm Patrol? Issues of Border Control.
At the end of chapter 14, Celia tells her story to Matt. The reader learns of "coyotes" and the "farm patrol". While The House of the Scorpion is a work of fiction, this story has many connections to the real world.
Alex: The article I chose was about how Nicolas Sarkozy the former and possibly new president of France is trying to re-due the old illegal immigration system. He now wants to increase security and border patrol to not allow anyone who hasn’t applied for immigration over the border. This added security may be bad for illegal immigrants, because if they are fleeing a country with their lives and they don’t have time to apply for regular methods of immigration. This is why I believe that Celia turned to a coyote to get out of her hometown, because she had a really bad life there and wanted to leave in order to live a better life. So Celia had to resort to a “Coyote” in order to have a chance of leaving her country without being caught. Although I don’t like the idea of immigration I think it is necessary for all countries in the world to have a way for immigrants to get in the country and away from harm quickly and legally. This would drastically cut down on illegal immigration such as Celia’s and people wouldn’t have to resort to shady characters such as the “coyote” to get a chance at a better life.
\•_•/Philip:This article is about a farmer in Arizona who knowingly hired illegal immigrants and is now being fined and having 2 years probation. In the house of the scorpion Celia was trying to escape to the US through a “coyote”. she was stopped by border patrol unlike the immigrants in this article that were caught 5 years after they were discovered to be illegal immigrants by the farmer. The consequences are much different between the book and real life. The immigrants in the book were all killed except for Celia because El Patron had a use for her. While in this article they were just sent back to Mexico and the farmer was punished. The immigrants in this article were obviously coming to the US for a job because there was probably not many good jobs where they came from. I think this is why the people in Celias story tried to get across the border and they risked their life because if they stayed they would have died or lived a miserable life anyway.http://ktar.com/6/1515123/Eloy-farm-fined-over-employing-illegal-immigrants
The illegal immigrants desperate to escape squalor of BritainThe BBC article titled, “The illegal immigrants desperate to escape squalor of Britain” is an article showing the life of illegal immigrants and the representation of their wealth, respect, and status. BBC reporters went and interviewed many illegal immigrants such as an Indian illegal immigrant by the name of Jagdeesh who has a home which is deep inside a hole of a concrete wall in the U.K with scurrying rats, rubbish all over and half the roof missing. Jagdeesh mentions how this is is the situation of many immigrants coming to the U.K illegally as the U.K government pays absolutely no heed to their basic necessities to live properly. The sad part is that many of these immigrants want to be deported back to their homeland but being deported back is at the price of documents (ID), something these immigrants don’t possess. Furthermore, the article mentioned how many of the illegal immigrants including Jagdeesh, had their families pay loads of money (about £10,000) to traffickers so they could be smuggled from their livable homes in places like India to a promised better land in areas such as Britain. The promises that these traffickers made were praising the area of Britain, promising welfare and opportunities but they instead they sought within a place of no opportunity, no government help, and no one else to help. In addition, Jagdeesh even cut off ties with his family believing it was better for them thinking he was dead then rotting in an unknown place. To quote, “They sold land and took out loans to get me out of India. What can I say to my family back home? The money we’ve invested is lost?” It really describes the type of issues which faces illegal immigrants every day especially in an environment that doesn’t support them. There are two sides of the issue basically. One, how people believe that this is wrong and illegal, and then the other side which I believe in, that people need to look beyond the legalities formed by the government and see the morality of how these people have lived and see that their needs are the same as ours. The only difference is that their needs aren’t being met. I understand that the act of coming into a nation with no ID or documents is illegal but many countries have goals to help refugees in war torn countries so why not help these people. There aren’t only bad living conditions in war torn countries and that’s what people around the globe need to get into their legality brains. For those who find themselves stuck in the U.K believe that simply trying to escape poverty landed them deeper in the jaws of poverty. Some try to get odd jobs, but even if they do get these jobs, there barely get biscuits for lunch and dinner. The extreme picture is how many have slipped into the cycle of alcohol and drugs believing that their life is finished. The basic idea is illegal immigrants come due to the fact of a search for a better life something we saw in Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion, where Matt’s caretaker Celia was an illegal immigrant who shares a similar story with Jagdeesh, asking a trafficker (coyote) to smuggle her somewhere else as the living conditions were horrible in her hometown. Furthermore, people like Celia would risk their lives as they believe that it doesn’t matter with their lives anymore. Their lives are wasted and dead in their home countries, but if there is a chance they can pass the border their lives will be renewed. Overall, it is these illegal immigrants with dreams and seeking opportunities with hard work that deserve help, recognition, and a lifetime of benefits."I’ve got a trade to propose for anyone who thinks illegal immigrants pose a threat to us. Let’s exchange all of our slackers, our soft, lazy, young men and women without dreams or ambition, for anyone willing to make the trip across mountains and deserts, hiking the final 50 miles with only a plastic jug of water, through murderous heat and freezing nights.” Jim Scarantino
Mitchell R:
The video i picked is of a couple traveling from El Salvidor, threw Mexico and into the USA.I picked this video because its showing how immigrants are not just all drug dealers bringing drugs to Canada or the USA. A lot of them come because they dont like the quality life they have in their home country. In this video the man and the woman travel with their friends to go to the USA border. They jump from train to train taking a risk of being run over.. After 28 days of dodging police, jumping train to train and taking buses they finally made it to the USA boarder. The video ends with them swimming threw the water from the Mexico side to the USA side. Now if you think about how long and far they have traveled it blows your mind to think that some people are so scared in their home country.
Mitchells video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9qYdALvFaU
Austin V: http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/01/13/canada.smuggling/
This article is about illegal immigrants coming into Canada from China in storage crates. People are helping them immigrate over to Canada. The people that help them force them to find a job and pay them a lot of money back. The living conditions were described as horrible. They had mattresses laid out on the ground of the container and they only had buckets for them to go to the bathroom. The reason that I decided to choose this article was because it was fairly local. It was very interesting and appalling that people bated them into coming to Canada. They made them live in a shipping crate and go to the bathroom in a bucket. This smuggling is worth about 10 billion dollars a year. This reminds me of the coyote that tells them he can get them across the border. The people that told the Chinese he could get them across abandoned just like the coyote in the book. Now both in the book and in real life they are both paying the price for doing something that was too good to be true. In real life they all force deportation back to china which would mean that the journey and the hardships they went through were all for nothing. In the book the only reason that Celia is not an eejit is because she was from the same village as El Patron. A good thing to follow when doing really everything is that if it is too good to be true it probably is. Some questions that have been raised in my head have been; how were they able to bait the people into coming to Canada. Why would the people decide to immigrate to Canada illegally instead of legally? Did they know it was illegal to immigrate this way?
Individual Blog Post #4
Swish:
The House of the Scorpion, chapters 1-25 has been a great thrilling ride. Following upon Matt’s journey of knowledge, despair, love, and the seek to be accepted, I can see many aspects of his life in a fictional world that can be connected people’s lives here in the real world. Furthermore, problems to be accepted as a different person is found everywhere, at home, school, work, and more and Matt wants to be accepted because he understands that every time he is rejected or not given equal opportunities it signifies how different exactly he is from everyone else. Many people in the world today see these problems in their real lives, and it leads to suicide, death, injuries, depression, etc. I was very surprised to see even though Matt was being rejected on many accounts, Matt didn’t break down to the point of thinking to die. He valued life, and when humanity disowned him, he turned to the pleasures of nature to fulfill his acceptance. I believe that he sees that nature is the one place that can accept him truly for what he is. Continuing on, we saw the development of many characters such as Maria, Matt, El Patron and other characters and basically we saw a line from down the middle making two sides. Those supporting Matt, and those not supporting Matt. Maria, Matt, Celia, El Patron are some characters that support Matt opposing basically the entire family within the Big House. We saw that Matt’s escape and desire to escape Opium was hard considering that every corner he turned he was met by those who opposed him. It was also the development of a love story between Maria and Matt, where Maria lost in her crazy dreams, supports Matt and seeks to help him at all costs. We see that the through the development of Matt’s life, Maria seems to be more comfortable to support Matt. Other fellows like Tam Lin helped the plot developed which basically in chapters 1-25, is Matt learning about the environment he lives in, the history of his land, and of course the character Esperanza who is a symbol of hope in Matt’s life of freedom and escape. In addition, we see that books, stories, and interactions with other characters leads Matt to understand the truth of why he came, how he came, and where exactly he is. It can be concluded all in all that chapters 1-25 really set forth Matt’s ideology of what he wants to do in the future, and within he finds himself to see both the beauty and terrors that is present in the world around him. It is these terrors that will stand as an obstacle to him and his freedom from Opium.
Alex: I really enjoyed pages 1-25 of the house of the scorpion. Matt’s character has changed a fair amount from the very first few chapters to the 25th chapter. At first he was an innocent little child that was always trying to do what was best for celia. Also he hadn’t hardly ever been outside except for a few times at night. I found it really interesting as to how he changed from the sweet little boy to the sometimes mean and cruel young man that forced maria to kiss him on his birthday although he knew she despised kissing him in-front of everyone. Although matt can sometimes be cruel and mean I believe that he is still more good than evil which El Patron is the opposite. Through this book I believe that people can make whatever they want of their lives and chose how they act. An example of this is that El patron was evil and matt is his clone yet Matt turns out more good than bad. Also what I found interesting is the twists and turns of plot such as when you think that Tam Lin has betrayed Matt and is going to bring him to the poisonous air where the eejits live, but actually he takes him to the oasis, so he can escape to Atzland. Farmer also keeps the reader’s attention really well by developing the story in a way that makes you to keep guessing and keep wanting to read more and more, to find out what happens.
Mitchell:
Austin: The House of the scorpion has been a great book so far from the first word on the first page to the last word on the last page. The twist and turns in the plot have made it a great book thus far. I have enjoyed how rich Farmer portrays the characters. I wish that in the early stages of the book we were informed of how matt looked. I feel the character that is Matt could be much richer and more developed if we found out what he looked like. I believe I would actually enjoy the book more and it would be easier for me to paint a picture and finish it if I know how Matt looked. But other than this i have enjoyed the book thoroughly, I have enjoyed the twist and turns in the plot like when we think matt is going to die. Farmer has done something that is very hard she has in my opinion, been able to strike an emotion in the reader and really get me involved in the book. Another thing I like about the book is how rich the characters are and how she describes them. she describes them in a way where the character is stuck in your head. After this she develops and changes the character throughout the book to keep the reader interested. In many books you don’t know what the characters did before or who they were. However, in this book during the book she gives you a history of some the main characters which help you think of who the character was before the book and how they changed. This really gets you thinking and asking yourself question. I think Farmers is intentionally doing this things to provoke thoughts into the reader's mind. It has been a great reading experience so far and so far there has not been a point in this book where it was boring or a point that made me want to quit reading, a “dull moment” if you will. I don’t think that there will be one of these moments to come in the future of the book and I only think the book will get better. I believe Famer will continue to do what she do what she has done thus far and finish the book strong.
This has been a really good book, i thought at the beginning that it wasn't going to be because it started off with a boy being born inside of a cow and it was just really confusing. the character matt has changed a lot throughout the book. in the beginning of the book he was a boy who lived in a shack in the middle of a poppy field, then he was in a jail cell being treated like an animal and then he was the favorite of El Patron. Throughout the book he meets allies and enemies. people he can trust like Tam Lin and Maria, and some people he cannot trust like Tom. even though he is the clone of El Patron who is really bad, matt has learned that he can be better and doesn't have to follow the same path as El Patron. There are different kinds of people in opium, there are the eejits who can only do one thing like Matt’s teacher that taught him the same lesson every day. there are El patons family who are very rich. i think that the mature from matt has developed a lot, and i think that Farmer has taken the readers on a trip to another country and another time in the future.
Austin: The House of the scorpion has been a great book so far from the first word on the first page to the last word on the last page. The twist and turns in the plot have made it a great book thus far. I have enjoyed how rich Farmer portrays the characters. I wish that in the early stages of the book we were informed of how matt looked. I feel the character that is Matt could be much richer and more developed if we found out what he looked like. I believe I would actually enjoy the book more and it would be easier for me to paint a picture and finish it if I know how Matt looked. But other than this i have enjoyed the book thoroughly, I have enjoyed the twist and turns in the plot like when we think matt is going to die. Farmer has done something that is very hard she has in my opinion, been able to strike an emotion in the reader and really get me involved in the book. Another thing I like about the book is how rich the characters are and how she describes them. she describes them in a way where the character is stuck in your head. After this she develops and changes the character throughout the book to keep the reader interested. In many books you don’t know what the characters did before or who they were. However, in this book during the book she gives you a history of some the main characters which help you think of who the character was before the book and how they changed. This really gets you thinking and asking yourself question. I think Farmers is intentionally doing this things to provoke thoughts into the reader's mind. It has been a great reading experience so far and so far there has not been a point in this book where it was boring or a point that made me want to quit reading, a “dull moment” if you will. I don’t think that there will be one of these moments to come in the future of the book and I only think the book will get better. I believe Famer will continue to do what she do what she has done thus far and finish the book strong.
Philip: The house of the scorpion is a very interesting and unpredictable book. I liked how in the first 25 chapters there were many twists and turn that kept me reading without getting bored. Farmer used great descriptive language to describe all the unique rooms in the “big house”. Matt has changed a lot in the first 25 chapters, in the very beginning he felt alone and had a completely different view of the world to what he sees now. In the beginning we didn’t know much about how matt reacts to other people besides celia because this was the only person he ever got to talk to until he built up the courage to explore the outside world. He meets maria and but doesn’t get a chance to know her as he is discovered to be El Patrons clone. After this incident matt is treated like a dog or even worse. He spends a lot of time trying to find out why clones are treated like beasts. El Patron comes to the rescue when he declares that Matt has to be treated better. Maria still came to visit Matt even when her father told her not too. They soon become good friends but run into lots of problems because of Tom. Tom is a foil to Matt. Matt whole life was turned around when Matt met his new bodyguard Tam Lin. Tam Lin took the role of a father for Matt and treated him like no one else did, a human. Matt was a little late to discover that El Patron was evil but luckily for Matt celia has planned for the day El Patron was in need of Matt's heart. I never thought of Celia as the type of person that would basically let a person of importance die. After El Patrons death Tam Lin frees matt from being disposed of and sets him off to find Maria and her mother. This is where Matt has to fend for himself to survive the treacherous cliffs and the filthy border guards trying to catch anyone making a run to or from opium. Matt nearly misses being caught by the guards but is finally free of the the opium land. Will matt still be treated like an animal or will he be an equal in the new and very different society he came across.
I liked your individual posts, they were very interesting, i liked the websites/articles you had for the immigration post, it related very well to your post and they worked well together, I did find the red writing on black background a little difficult to read, altogether a very del done blog!
ReplyDeleteThoughts On Alex's Individual Post: For your blog post I thought that your opinions on the issue of illegal immigration were very interesting to read and very different form mine. Over the course of your post you talk heavily about the human aspect of illegal immigration which is the root cause for it in general. I really feel you have a strong and stand alone view than other posts I have read. The views you expressed were both interesting and informative. I look forward to reading your future posts.
ReplyDelete