I find the setting in The House of the Scorpion very
interesting so far. Nancy Farmer described the setting very well by including
specific details. From around the beginning of the book I always imagined the
plot took place in Mexico, specifically because the characters spoke some
Spanish. First off, the plot takes place in a little house in a poppy field.
This makes me think of a rural area, which we learn later on in the book that
the setting is on a farm. I wonder why Matt and Celia lived in a separate house
instead of in the Big House. If El Patron really loved him, wouldn’t he want
Matt to have the best? I can answer no to this because he probably didn’t want
Matt to find out that he was a clone. The book is set in Opium, a country in
between the United States and Aztlán, which is currently Mexico. This is an
evident piece of information because we can assume the book is set in the
future, as there currently isn’t a country called Aztlán.
Further along into the
book, Matt lives at the Big House, a whole different setting in itself. Farmer
did an excellent job of illustrating certain aspects of the mansion, such as
the lotus pond. “The lotus pond was one of a dozen pools of water in the vast
gardens of the house. It was deserted in the summer because it had little
shade. Ibises, with wings clipped to keep them from flying away, stalked
through papyrus grass and hunted frogs under the lily pads. It was El Patrón’s
idea of an ancient Egyptian garden.” (Farmer 128) I’m excited to read more about
the setting of Aztlán and the similarities and differences between Aztlán and
Opium. So far we already know that Matt discovers Aztlán is very developed and
is full of factories. “But beyond them lay a seething mass of factories and
skyscrapers. He saw roadways not only on the ground buy going up in wide
spirals among the buildings. A sea of hovercrafts restlessly prowled the air.
The buildings stretched on as far as Matt could see, which wasn’t far because a
smudgy brown haze covered everything.” (Farmer 254)
You are describing what you pictured the setting to be. I like you imagined Mexico, but not because they spoke spanish, it was because of the architecture. El Patron liked to keep his buildings like the past, the walls are white and the roof is red, this is exactly like the architecture you can see in mexico today. i thought of the land around the house as beautiful and captivating, with lush green trees and grass, and cool looking ponds. Around that land is a forest covered in white poppies, then beyond that a dessert with unbearable conditions. You did a very good job setting this book and showing it through your eyes. Good descriptive language Sara.
ReplyDeleteI really loved what you looked at in this post. You looked at how El Patron treated Matt. How if he had really loved him he would have let him live with him and raised him like a real son. I looked at the exact opposite, I looked at how Matt really loved El Patron even though he knew he was really evil. So the way you looked at the exact opposite was cool because I could really compare what Matt thought of El Patron. I also loved how you looked at the scene, I looked at it in another context in which I looked at the really small details like how she so well described the way Matt saw the flowers. My favourite description of scene was found in the first chapter when Matt was looking out over the Opium fields and the mountains and how he saw it so beautifully even though it is something so cruel.
ReplyDeleteJordan 9.4
Hey Sara, great blog entry! It was great how you talked about how you imagined Mexico. I also loved how you included some quotes. It was also a great idea to add what you think is going to happen next, and your opinions. Great job, it was very well put together. I found that it was easy to read, it has lots of flow.
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