House of the Scorpion Essay

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go through life as an outcast? The main character in House of the Scorpion was constantly treated as though he didn’t fit in. Although he was treated poorly, a few characters did feel differently about him. In the novel, the characters believe in different morals and have a wide range of views that are comparable to how people think and believe in today’s society. In House of the Scorpion, many of the characters share different morals and ways of dealing with things. For example, El Patron, the antagonist of the story, has no morals and he treats most, if not all, the characters however he chooses. El Patron takes advantage of almost everyone in the story, or at least tries to. The selfish man turns people into eejits and uses them as workers. Most people know what a dictatorship is, and the society in the novel portrays one to the max. El Patron is the leader of Opium, the city in which the story takes place. Being the leader of Opium, El Patron has the mentality that he can act as he pleases and say what he wants to say, and no one should dis-obey him. “He has his good side and his bad side. Very dark indeed is his majesty when he wants to be. When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other. He grew large and green until he shadowed over the whole forest, but most of his branches are twisted.” (page ) There are also characters in the novel, like in today’s society who don’t know what is right or what to believe in. Some of them know what they believe in, but are influenced by others and become confused. Matt, the main character in the story, knows he should be treated as a human but is influenced by everyone’s negative thoughts about him that Matt becomes unsure. “If I had a soul, I’d probably wind up in hell anyway.” (Matt ) Matt, deep don knows his morals, butt too many people have intimidated him. Matt can make bad decisions because of