The 22nd Annual Book Report Competition For
Secondary School Students
The Champion of English Junior Section
Name of School
Name of Award Student
Title of Book Read
Author
: The German Swiss International School
: Yang Chang Yi, Ethan
: The House of the Scorpion
: Nancy Farmer
The House of the Scorpion is an adrenaline pumping and thought provoking
novel written by Nancy Farmer. It takes place in the near future and is about a human
clone called Matt, owned by a wealthy lord called El Patron. El Patron, who is an old
but powerful lord over 140 years old (he depends on modern technology to live). He
has a large plot of land called Opium with poppy fields for harvesting opium, lying
between the US and what used to be Mexico. At first, Matt thinks that he is a wellprotected child who is going the rule Opium for El Patron after his death. However, it
isn’t long before he realizes that he is merely being used to provide new, better organs
for El Patron, and that according to the law, he is livestock. Nevertheless, he manages
to fights his way through all the obstacles, with close friends such as El Patron’s
guard Tam Lin and his caretaker Celia, and he realizes his ultimate destiny – to
destroy El Patron’s backward and corrupt drug empire.
As the story progresses, the author touches on a number of futuristic and far
reaching themes. One of the most important themes is cloning and its implications. In
the near future, Nancy Farmer implies the government has exploited the fact that
clones are nurtured in the wombs of cows, so that they can classify clones as livestock.
Rich and wealthy people can then hire scientists to make clones of them, drug the
clones (turning them into complete wrecks) and when they get older and their body
organs start to fail, they can hire a doctor to transplant the clone’s organs into their
own bodies so they can continue to live. Are there any differences between clones and
humans after all? Biologically, there are no differences. Therefore I think that
exploiting them is illegal, and it undermines human rights. But then, after all, organ
transplanting is a very profitable enterprise, especially for the surgeons and doctors
who do the operations. It can provide many more jobs for professionals, and wealthy
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people can enjoy a longer, happier life. So, this is the issue in the story: more jobs and
extended (perhaps more enjoyable) life for the rich, or human rights and freedom for
clones?
Technology also plays a big role in the story. In the story, scientists have
discovered biological microchips, which can be placed in animal or human brains and
then programmed so that they can manipulate the animal or human brains. These
people and animals are called eejits, and the chips are also designed to deprive normal
humans of feeling and their senses so that they will work continually unless they are
told to stop. The Farm Patrol (which guard the poppy farms in Opium) is controlling
people biologically and turning them into zombies, in a way depriving them of their
lives. This is morally inhumane and cruel – this is equivalent to murder. But then this
technology also has its own advantages. Who doesn’t want Safe Horses, or various
other safe animals that follow only your commands, and work nonstop? Fatigue and
food would never be a problem for eejit animals, and they will obey all of your
instructions! It is still the same issue: should people be humane, or should be people
be greedy and selfish and value profit over life?
Greed over humanity is an undenied cause of all of these issues. People like El
Patron used their cunning to trick and deceive people, and slowly climbed to the top
of the “ladder” of power. As Tam Lin put it, “When he was young, he made a choice,
like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or another. He grew large and green
until he shadowed over the whole forest, but most of his branches are twisted.” He
had taken over a whole opium empire, but he had done it, in a ruthless, heartless way.
It is the same for the rest of El Patron’s family and various other characters: Mr
Alacran’s determination to get hold of Opium; the Keeper’s abusing of the Lost
Children for profit (working at the plankton factory); Senator MacGregor’s voracity
for money (by asking El Patron for more), etc. Greed can make people do many evil
things, like how El Patron enslaves illegal immigrants as eejits, how clones are treated,
El Patron’s treatment of the people around him as “possessions”.
Nancy Farmer compiles a compelling, bleak image of the future. She shows us,
from the perspective of Matt, some potential and devastating results of modern
research and technology. Here, people misuse the advantages technological advances
have brought forth. People abuse animals, clones and even each other. And this is all
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because of power-hungry people, who merely want to be on the “top of the world”.
After all, if we banned all the technology, these people wouldn’t exploit all of this
advanced technology and cause more suffering among others, right? However, there
is another solution to all of these issues. All we need to do is to make sure no one is
hurt by cloning organs only and not whole humans. We can also use machines instead
of eejits, which are more efficient – why not build better, more capable machines
when scientists can make advanced biological microchips? Of course, we cannot
prevent covetous people from developing in this world and causing more suffering.
These people harm each other, because they did not receive good education when they
were small – in fact, they are completely oblivious of other peoples’ feelings. That’s
why people like El Patron have no consideration for other people. That’s why we
need to think to ourselves – how would you feel, if your “boss” forced you to work
virtually nonstop, without breaks in between, and you had no choice? Reading the
House of the Scorpion wasn’t just thrilling, it also opens up to some provocative
issues.
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