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. 

Setting of Novel

The setting Nancy Farmer intended for this book is showed differently to the reader than some other books. The first chapter in this book did not say much about setting instead it was more of a prologue explaining how Matt was born and how everything else started. However, this chapter did give you a clue of what time of year this story is taking place in. You can kind of hint that this story is taking place in the future by reading the first chapter, although it did not give a specific date, it tells you about people creating clones and using far more advanced technology that you might find in the future. The second is where the setting started to take place, in the chapter title itself, “ The little house in the Poppy Fields” it already sets the books beginning setting for the reader. To get a more general sense of the setting in this book you need to look earlier, even before the first chapter of the book. On one page of the book, it explains Alacran’s Family History. In most of the earlier generations of the family, it says they all lived or died in Mexico. So from this, you can hint that the setting is taking place in a future Mexico. However, the entire setting in this book cannot be found immediately. As the reader progresses through the book, more and more of the setting is being revealed and each little part in some chapters help find the actual setting the book is taken place in. The season in this book is very obvious though, in the second chapter it explained about the white poppy field outside and didn’t mention anything about there being snow or if was cold or not. Also in chapter 3, it explained Matt being carried on a dry dirt path; this could mean that it wasn’t spring either. So from all of these small hints, the reader could easily point out that the current season in the book was summer.

Overall Setting of "The House Of The Scorpions"

Compared to other novels, Nancy Farmer has illustrated the setting in quite a different way. Instead of telling us what the setting was, she illustrated the setting through different events through out the novel. In the 2nd chapter of the book, it explains a beautiful morning sunrise with bright blue skies and early morning sunlight. This description of the morning sky suggests that the time the novel is taking place in is around spring or summer. Another possible hint as to the season this novel is located in is the title of the second chapter, "The Little House In The Poppy Fields" also hinting us that it is around summer time. Near the beginning of the book, it does have a family tree stating that the many characters that are being brought up in the novel are from Mexico, suggesting that the place of which the book is taking place in is in and around Mexico. However, it doesn't state a certain time period that the book is taking place in but judging by the events that are happening in the first chapter of the book, you can take and educated guess that this book is taking place somewhere in the future as we do not have the technology to create clones yet. In chapter 8, it gives you can get a general feel of the setting through reading about the horseback ride and the secret pond the Tam Lin took Matt to go and see. However, Nancy farmer has not given a straight explanation of the the book and up until chapter 9, has given little hints about the setting through the action of characters and what the characters see. This could mean that the setting could be constantly changing and isn't always the same. I believe that the reason Nancy farmer is doing this is to keep and hold the readers interests. Instead of having the book in the same setting throughout, the setting continuously changes, thus captivating the readers interests.

Foreshadowing

Everything that Nancy Farmer put in the book is there for a reason. What I’m trying to find out why she put it in. A specific reason for her doing could be because she’s trying to hint us something that is going to happen next. In the beginning, Matt meets Steven, Emilia, and Maria. Maria later calls him an “eejit” and I think that farmer was trying to hint us something about that. Later in the book, I realized that when Maria was talking about “eejits” she was really trying to tell us something, trying to hint us something. Also that could be part of why everyone hates clones. In the book, when everyone figured out that Matt was the clone, they all treated him very badly. The way that everyone treats him could also be foreshadowing a major event that is going to happen.  Names like little beast, filthy clone, bad animal, etc. could all be foreshadows that hint about something that could alter on in the story. Along on that note, the thought that Celia is keeping Matt out of the public could be another foreshadow of why people hate Matt so much. The Chupacabras that Celia talks about could also be a major part in helping develop the story and why people hate Matt so much. The Chupacabras could just be something made up by Celia to keep Matt out of the public because of some reason. Later advancing through the book, I think that we’ll be able to find out the real reason why Farmer put in all of these events/characters into the book. 

Relationship between characters

There are a variety of relationships between the characters in the first section of this novel. Each character has different feelings towards one another and towards Matt. Once Matt has moved to the big house, he became very distant from Celia and started to have a much different relationship towards the people who live and worked in the big house. The relationship between Matt and Rosa are very obvious, they both hate each other but it seemed as if Rosa hated him an extra bit more. The kids in the big house changed their relationship with Matt as soon as they found out the he was a clone. At first, Tom, Maria, and Steven didn’t really hate Matt, they actually helped him when he fell on the glass, but once they found out he was a clone; their personalities changed immediately. They started to hate Matt and started to treat him very differently. Tom especially hated Matt; he would go into his room and shoot Matt with peas. One relationship that didn’t really change was between Matt and Maria, even though Maria knew that Matt was a clone, she still didn’t really hate him as much as the others. In fact, it seemed as if she actually liked Matt. An obvious foil relationship in the book was between Celia and Rosa. Both of them were caretakers for Matt, however they had a very different feeling towards Matt. Celia loved Matt like he was her son, but Rosa hated Matt. Another foil relationship was between Matt and Tom, they both hate each other but they also have very different personalities. Matt is more caring and forgiving and Tom is just being a jerk to everyone around him.

Confliction's Between Characters

What I have found throughout the first part of the book or as Nancy Farmer explains it, Youth: 0 - 6, that there are numerous conflicts growing between certain characters in the novel. What I have noticed, beginning on page 23 is that many people consider clones something that is extremely inferior and poor. For example on page 24 of chapter 3, after the fierce man leaned over and whispered into Rosa's ear that Matt was a clone, Rosa immediately took Matt outside of the Estate and threw him out onto the grassy meadow. This event implies that there may have been a conflict between this man and clones themselves, specifically a conflict between the man and Matt. This could explain why many people think of clones as rabid and bad tempered animals. There are also may other events illustrating that people have a thing against clones such as the comment by Steven. "He is an animal." This is just one of the many indications throughout the book that clones have earned themselves a very bad reputation.


One of the more prominent conflicts in the first stage of the book is the one between Rosa, the caretaker and Matt, the clone. As stated before, as soon as Rosa heard that Matt was a clone, she got rid of him as soon as possible. When the fierce man found out Matt was property of the Alacran Estate, he told the doctor at once and it was the doctors responsibility to keep him up to health. So, he was taken in to a jail cell where he would be cared for until further notice. But soon, Rosa found out that she was responsible for feeding and cleaning the jail cell of which Matt would spend his time in. From there on out, the conflict began to arise. It first started off with Rosa, handing out rather nasty food to Matt, food that was barley even edible. Rosa also has a flirtatious relationship with the doctor Willum. Unfortunately, like all relationships, there are flaws and later on they began to fight. Because of this fight, Rosa redirected her anger at Matt, blaming him for everything that has happened between Willum and Rosa. Rosa told Matt hints like "if it wasn't for clones, i wouldn't be in this position, i wouldn't have to clean your stinky prison!"


I have been asking myself, is there a greater meaning to all of these conflicts? Or are they just common fights between characters? I think that something that the author is trying to inform us that there is a reason why many people hat clones so badly. Nancy Farmer is hinting to me and other readers that there was an event that was the catalyst for all of these conflicts between characters. Possibly, cones may have done something extremely bad. Maybe, the first clone that was made got out of hand and killed other innocent people. From the first five chapters of this book, we can't tell exactly what bad things clones have done to deserve being treated the way that they are, but we can assume that something greater happened with clones.

Overall, conflict-ions between characters in the first five chapters of the book has gave or almost left us with a bit of uncertainty as well as an educated guess at what might happen over the course of the rest of the book.