Setting

The setting in The House of The Scorpion is a little bit confusing. I’m not sure why Farmer specifically chose the boarder between the United States and Mexico. Farmer’s choices that she made should have something to do with the story, and I think that the setting is really just to get the story flowing. For example, in the beginning when Matt meets Emilia and Steven for the first time, I think that the setting was to set up the event. The house that Matt was living in was in the middle of nowhere, and I think that it was to keep other people from finding out about him. The setting is becoming clearer throughout the story but it’s starting to unfold very slowly. She sets the time of the story in the future because it says that they are living in a country called Opium, which is between the United States, and what was once Mexico. Like I said, I think that she did this to set up the events in the story. Specifically, when Celia was telling Matt about how she is now El Patron’s. Moreover, she explains more about the setting throughout the story like when Tam Lin took Matt to the oasis. She explained more about the farms, the oasis (in chapter 15 matt goes back to the oasis, so I believe that this is something important) and more. Throughout the story she describes more about the story, in the beginning she unfolds the story about Matt and at the same time, more about his house, the fields around him. I think that as the story unfolds she will continue to tell us more about the setting, similar to how she did in the beginning.