Ashika - Final Blog Post - Book Review

In the country of Opium in a strip of poppy fields somewhere between the United States and what used to be Mexico lies a small house. In this house lives a boy named Matt who isn't exactly what you would consider normal.  He is a clone of El Patron. His cells were split and divided in a petri dish later to be put in a cow, which he was born from. He considers himself normal, but thats far from what the rest of the world thinks of him. He is considered a Monster, a filthy animal and a disgrace. He is worthless to everyone but his creator, El Patron. His life is threatened by many characters simply because of the way he was conceived, will he make it through?

This book was truly amazing. The plot was unlike anything I have heard about. Farmers thought process was unbelievable. Though the book started off extremely slow and I was unable to connect with the book at all but when I got deeper in, every scene seemed to pull me in, loosing track of time and unable to put the book down.

One of the things that I didn't enjoy was the amount of characters that were in the book. I would often have to go back and read chapters again because I wouldn't be able to remember where and who this character was. That was frustrating for me because I would be so into the book and then a new character would come into play and it would get complicated. The book would have been much more powerful if there were less characters because that would have allowed her to go deeper into their specific personalities although she did cover them quite well.

I just feel like after a while, the characters were left hanging such as Tom. When Matt was reunited with Maria in the end of the book, Tom was completely out of the story. Was he alive? Was he with Maria? He totally disappeared from the book, which was a huge shock to me that Farmer would pull that out of the book. One last thing that I felt she left out of the book was the relationship between Matt and Maria in the end. Once they had met, she left them off as friends which seemed odd to me. After all of Farmer leading us on that Matt was in love with Maria, she never really informed us if they ever fell in love, or got married. It was a big chunk missing out of the story to me.

This book was outstanding, the twists and turns of the book were always a shock. Farmer was constantly putting hints of foreshadowing which kept me engaged in the book, and like I had said before, unable to put the book down. Overall, It was a really interesting read, I will be sure to recommend to my friends.

Blog post #5: Ashika

Blog post #5: Not being accepted for who they are.


"My father was right, it didn't matter how much I lied on my resume, my real resume was in my cells." 
Vincent, Gattaca


Our entire lives we have been taught to avoid discrimination, to treat people the way you want to be treated. This novel and movie really show the reality of what it would be like if equality wasn't something we value as greatly as we do today. Though the movie, 'Gattaca' and the novel 'The House of Scorpion' have different plots they have several things that make it easy to relate them both, one of which is the sense of equality in general.

On the outside both Matt and Vincent appear as if they are no different than the others. If someone were to not know about how they were made, nobody would have suspected any difference. Unfortunately the inside is what matters the most in both cases. No matter the amount of skills they may have, at the end of the day if you're the minority, you're not accepted. In both books, the minority is entirely opposite. Natural born baby, Vincent lives in Gattaca where it has become the 'norm' to be genetically engineered to have 'perfect' genes. In the novel 'The House of Scorpions' Matt's scenario is the opposite. He is born a genetical engineered child, while most of the world are normally conceived human beings, which brings up an odd topic. What is normal? In the two stories, the perception of normal is completely different, yet in both cases they are facing discrimination. I suppose the inference that I can make from that is everyone is forced to believe that the majority is superior than the minority in both stories. Truth is, Matt and Vincent are both just as, if not more capable then many of the others. They are being judged simply because of how they were conceived. Discrimination is an ongoing thing. It has occurred in the past, and it happens now.  It most likely will carry on into the future. In both stories, the discrimination is taken quite far. Matt and Vincent were treated as if they were entirely different people. Vincent was constantly insulted due to the fact he was different from the rest, this was a similar case for Matt. People treated him like an animal, they pushed him around and called him names, thinking it was okay because he was a clone. Though both of them went through a lot, they overcame all the obstacles and proved everyone wrong in the end.

Blog Post #5: Angel

Underestimating the Capabilties of Matt and Vincent. 

In the plot of Gattaca and the House of the Scorpion, both stories are taken place in a futuristic time setting with the concept of genetic modification. Matt and Vincent share many differences and similarities. Being underestimated is something shared between these two main characters. Born naturally or through livestock, either way both characters are underestimated solely for the fact of being different.

When Matt grows up in the Alacran estate, he lives with the title of being useless. He is mistreated and hated upon, simply for being a clone. Matt tries to excel in anything possible. When being home schooled, he attempts to go above and beyond, but unfortunately he is just as good as everyone else. He isn’t worse, nor is he better; his learning ability is recognized equal to others. In Gattaca, Vincent is a naturally born baby. Unfortunately, naturally born is no longer the process that occurs in this society. Furthermore, humans are now created in petri dishes ensuring they are given the perfect characteristics, and have everything a ‘perfect’ human can be. Because Vincent is a naturally born baby, his chances of achieving his goals are much more difficult than the rest of the humans who are genetically modified to be perfect. Vincent is angry about the fact that he is unable to go to space because he was naturally born. He decides to change his identity in order to fulfill his dreams. He scrubs his body down everyday, and uses another human’s urine and blood samples to achieve what he wants in life. 

Both these characters have such giant issues to overcome in their life. Matt just wants to grow up without being killed for his organs; he would love to live a life just like any other kid. Vincent wants his dream of going to space to be true. Many people in this novel underestimate the capabilities of these two characters. In fact, they are quite sure that Matt and Vincent will never achieve their dreams. Through lots of hard work, both Vincent and Matt eventually achieve their dreams in some way, even if it isn’t exactly legal. Vincent pretending to be another to achieve his dream of going to space; as well as Matt running off for an new life before he gets mistreated by the Alacran estate.

There were many obstacles that these characters had to get past, they were forced to be strong. But with courage, and confidence these characters were able to accomplish the goals they had been holding onto for what seemed like eternity. Props to Matt and Vincent for accomplishing the goals they set out to achieve. 

Blog Post #5 - Emiola

Matt vs. Vincent: Genetically Modification

There are clear similarities between Matt and Vincent, such as how they are treated due to them being different from everyone around them. Matt isn't taken as a person because he was born through a cow, he is constantly called livestock closer to the beginning of the book. Vincent isn't taken as a person either because he isn't normal, or should I say highly advanced like everyone else. Their generation of normal is genetically modified children, Vincent is only expected to live 30.2 years. 

 

Matt has to deal with the consecutive reminders that he is not "human" and that he is different, and always will be. Matt seemed to be compared with Tom. Tom was one of his fierce competitors during the middle of the book because of Maria; liked by both Tom and Matt. Other than the time at the end of the book when Matt realizes that he really is special, he is intelligent, plays the piano, has a mind set. As well, he is able to survive running away from the great El Patron. Esperanza shows Matt that he is more than just a "clone", in fact he is human. Vincent also has to deal with the thought that he isn't "normal" all the time. This would be immensely hard for him because of his "perfect" and "tremendous" brother, Anton. It seemed like Vincent was always second place to his brother whenever they competed, like when they played chicken when they were smaller, which continued when they became older. 

Why did they do this to prove they're human? I believe this may have been because they wanted to have a higher purpose in life. I think that was another struggle for Matt. It seemed like Tom, El Patron, and the Keepers weren't his only struggle; it was generally life as whole. Through trying all these ways to change himself, he believed that he would be treated differently but that didn't happen. In addition, Vincent faked his way to his dream job by using another identity. He had to follow through with his lie! He had to continuously shave his skin off, and take blood samples for the scan. Matt and Vincent did a lot of extra work so that they could truly be acce-ted, as genetically modified and natural. 

If I were to decide what the theme was for House of the Scorpion was, I would have said love conquers all. However, now I believe the theme has struck out to be never underestimate yourself. Life brings its challenges but always believe in yourself. Or another theme is that everyone deserves a chance.