Nathan+Cho's+Summer+Reading

 //The House of the Scorpion// by Nancy Farmer



Approved

**Essay** //Each essay should include the following:// a. book title and author in the introductory paragraph b. a thesis statement that encompasses the main idea of your essay which should be how the selected chapter is reflected in your novel c. brief summary of the section to be discussed (no more than a paragraph)--just enough to get a sense of the context d. analysis of the section through the lens of one of the chapters from //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// e. a quotation you think is significant and your explanation of how the quote reflects the selected chapter f. each essay should be approximately three hundred words g. Copy and paste the essay! Do not upload a document!

**Essay #1 Nice to eat with U**

In The House of the scorpion by Nancy farmer, the protagonist, Matt, goes through complex, difficult, and painful life because of his identity. As the story goes on, in the beginning, Matt finds out that he is a clone and the property of El Patrón. Also, He is unlike other clones; technicians did not destroy his mind at birth. Matt meets El Patrón and eats dinner with him for the first time in his life. While having a meal with El Patrón, Matt discovers some facts that he did not know about El Patrón. In literature, sometimes a meal is not just a meal. “Whenever people eat or drink together, it’s a communion” (Foster, 8).

The author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster states that the act of taking food with other people is to express that “I want to be with you, you want to be with me, let us share the experience” (Foster, 9). Likewise, in The House of the Scorpion, Matt and El Patrón dining together at their first encounter portrays their desire to become closer and get to know each other more (Farmer, 57). El Patrón tells Matt about his favorite foods and childhood experience over dinner. Matt feels extremely happy talking with El Patrón because Matt never had a chance to eat with other people except with Rosa (Farmer, 58). For Matt and El Patrón, their dinner was not only just a meal, but also an action of bonding and getting to know one another.

While eating dinner together, El patrón talks about the origin of his name, Matteo Alacrán: “People from Durango are called alacránes…it’s your name too” (Farmer, 58). This made the dinner more meaningful to Matt. El Patrón tells Matt that his name also belongs to him because they are identical. “It may be a moment of even greater trust” (Foster, 11). Matt’ dinner with El Patrón became the source of trust and initiation to build a father-son like relationship between the two.

//**Comment #1**

Hey, Nathan! How was your summer? I hope it was great. Anyway, I read your essay about the book __the house of the Scorpions__ by Nancy Farmer. Overall, my impression after reading your writing is great. The general ideas and contents are excellent and I really want to point out how you correlated Thomas C. Foster's book and your selected book choice well. Nevertheless, I have a few suggestions relating to your essay's organization and fluency. In the first paragraph, I noticed how you began the writing with general plot line of __the house of the Scorpions__. In my personal opinion, adding on some introductory sentences before the actual summary would help to grab reader's attention and at the same time state your main thesis. Maybe starting your essay with Foster's point from his book might help your essay to be generally more interesting to read. Another point I would like to suggest for improvement is to analyze the quote more than just supporting it. For example, in your essay you wrote; "“It may be a moment of even greater trust” (Foster, 11). Matt’ dinner with El Patrón became the source of trust and initiation to build a father-son like relationship between the two. " Instead of just telling how the dinner built on father-son like relationship, it would be better if you explain why it is significant and how it relates to Foster's idea. Except for those few points, I would really like to say that your writing is neatly written and fun to read. Good job!

-Yoonji Reem//


 * Essay #2** **Symbolism**

Matt is the protagonist of Nancy Farmer’s novel, The House of the Scorpion. He is a clone of El Patrón, and he receives ill treatment from many people at the “Big House” because of his identity. People of this country have a strong prejudice against clones. Thus, they view Matt as a ghastly beast rather than a respectful individual. However, through the time of agony, Matt stays positive and thinks about Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. “Is that a symbol – sure it is,” says Thomas C. Foster of How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Foster, 97).

Thomas C. Foster states in his book that symbols can be interpreted in various ways. Virgin Mary, in “The House of Scorpion,” makes an appearance in two disparate forms as an object in real life and as vision conjured by imagination. The object form of Virgin Mary is the sculpture of Virgin Mary, which is placed near Matt’s bed. It represents safety and comfort: ”for restoring Matt to Safety” (Farmer, 59). On the mean time, Virgin Mary as a vision turned up when Matt was locked up in the dark room and small barrier (Farmer, 46). Matt was so angry and lonely from all the adversaries and about the fact that there were no one coming to rescue him. These caused him to feel an impulsive desire to take revenge against everyone who used to look at him with contempt. However, his imaginations of the mother of Jesus being with him, observing and smiling at him soothed his anguish, aggravation and aloneness. This particular form of Virgin Mary in “The House of Scorpion” represents moral guidance and companionability. According to Nancy Farmer, Virgin Mary is not just an ornament or a delusional image, but something more beyond that.

When Matt was in his state of solitary indignation, he suddenly remembered what Celia had told him about Virgin Mary, “Virgin loved…things” (Farmer, 46). Such sayings about Virgin Mary came up to his mind and made him feel like he is actually in her godly presence. His feelings were pacified. To Matt, the mother of Jesus was an angel. As Thomas C. Foster says “a symbol can’t be reduced….one thing. Virgin Mary, as a symbol, may also represent many different meanings and cannot equal to a single definition.


 * Essay #3** **Concerning Violence**

The protagonist of The House of the Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer, experiences many hardships and physical abuse through out the story. People are not willing to accept Matt because of the social/cultural perception that reproaches clones as disgusting animals. On the meantime, some other characters commit violence for Matt’s safety and the improvement of Opium, the fictional country of the novel. Violence can be found with both the good and bad people. In other words, violence may be present in every man’s heart: “The literal violence encodes…uncaring relationship we have with the universe” (Foster, 88~89).

Thomas C. Foster, the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, says that there are two categories of violence in literature: doing it to other people, or doing it to themselves (Foster, 90). In The House of the Scorpion, from the beginning to the end, the characters perform many types of violence, such as verbal insult, punching, shooting at other people, and self-hurting. While Matt is in the cage, Rosa physically and emotionally hurts him by insulting and forcibly pushing him (Farmer, 39 ~44). Tom also shoots Matt with a peashooter (Farmer, 45~46). Later, Matt fights with Tom with full hatred because of Tom’s impoliteness (Farmer, 66). Also, unlike hurting or insulting other people, at the celebration of El Patrón’s death, Tamlin sacrifices himself to make up all the crime he had done by killing all the wicked people and freeing the eejits, a human with computers chips implanted. (Farmer, 375~377). These various and spontaneous violent events portray the ferocious nature that is implanted within us.

Throughout the story, Matt is bullied and threatened by from numerous types of people like farm laborers, priests, Alcrane’s family and even his girlfriend. Abhorrence and violence can be found anywhere. After Matt is beat up by Tom, Matt feels “the weight of hatred humans had for such things…intelligent one” (Farmer, 120). Matt eventually realizes that violence is something that cannot be changed or stopped because it belongs to human nature. Although it can vary by so many different levels, hatred or the urge to hurt someone are the instinct characteristics of all human beings.

**Essay #4 Drowning**

In The House of Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer, Matt is ignored by most people because he is a clone. People of the Opium country are strongly influenced by Catholicism, which does not have a favorable view over clones. Thus, they think of Matt as an unbaptized limb of Satan (Farmer, 159). However, Tamlin, the bodyguard of El Patrón and Matt, often tells Matt about his belief that there is no different between humans and clones. “But everything in Matt’s experience argued against it. Humans hated clones. It was the natural order of things” (Farmer 276). Away from all the confusion and chaos, Matt runs away to his secret place, “Oasis” near the “Big House”. There, he steps into the water. Matt's submersion into the water does not only mean he is going to wash, rest, or swim, but also as Foster says, baptism and other entities (Foster, 162).

Matt’s drowning into the oasis accommodates many different meanings internally. Some of them are the formation of new identity and rebirth. If we think about Matt’s environmental and psychological background, we can discover that he was feeling sick, feverish, and heavy. Therefore, he would have wanted something that could make him feel healthy and more liberating. When Matt was submerged into the pond, he finally found what he needed; he gained freedom through nature. Matt’s “baptism-like” experience signified a breakout and revitalization.

After Matt’s drowning, Nancy Farmer describes Matt’s actions and emotions in detail, “Matt looked up the sky…grew strong” (Farmer, 195). Although Matt did not intend to get baptized, it sounds like he got one. All the surroundings are cleansed, and Matt senses brightness, cleanness, and the growing power of enchantment (Foster, 157). He went through a spiritual transformation. Such unique form of Matt’s baptism also represents the rebirth and rejuvenation of Matt. Manifestly, considering his environmental, emotional, and psychological background, Matt's drowning into the water represents many things




 * Essay #5** **Disabled for a Reason**

In The House of Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer, Matt meets many abnormal teachers. Matt is the protagonist of this story. He is a clone of El Patron and he is discriminated by the society because of his identity.His first teacher is an orphan lady and eejit, a human with computers chips implanted. Her smile is freakishly unnatural and can only give one lesson in repetition. Another teacher from whom Matt begins to learn is Mr. Ortega. He is different from other people in that he is deaf and still teaches music. Tamlin brought Mr. Ortega to Matt after discovering Matt’s unusual musical talents that does not reflect the characteristics of El Patrón. The early introduction of these disabled characters, by Nancy Farmer, help us to learn something significant about Matt, the protagonist.

It is written in How to Read Literature Like a Professor that “If writers want their audience to know something important about their character, they introduce it early” (Foster, 205). In a similar way, Nancy farmer also introduced disabled characters in the beginning stage of the novel (Farmer, 71). This early introduction of Matt’s disabled teachers explains the inequality of a clone in human society. Matt could not get the same education as other children because of one reason: he is a clone (Farmer, 81). Furthermore, it was hard for him to find private teachers so he had to get lessons from disabled teachers, who are also treated unequally in human society like Matt.

“He was in a rage to learn. He would excel, and then every one would love him and forget he was a clone” (Farmer, 91). Although he may not have had the best teachers, Matt did not give up on learning because he wanted to be equally treated as other humans. Matt was strong and persistent. Nancy Farmer gave us an early introduction to the disabled characters for the very purpose of revealing this particular characteristic of Matt. Furthermore, she also provides insight to the social norm and structure of the fictional country that is formed in The House of Scorpion – we notice this from the inadequate education that Matt had to receive from the handicapped teachers; they had flaws for a reason.




1. Select and read two of your peers' essays. 2. Underneath each essay, thoughtfully comment on the ideas put forth. 3. This comment should be no more than one succinct paragraph. 4. Post and label the comment on //the writer's page// with your name at the bottom of your comment. 5. Copy and paste the comment onto //your// summer reading page in the comments section. 6. Write the writer's name and essay # underneath the comments on your own page.

Comment Jin's **Essay #3** Violence
 * Comment #1**

Yo Burmjin! This is your best soccer buddy Nathan… I hope you are having a great farewell to your summer vacation. OK SO~ Let's talk about your essay! This essay is so emo ha ha ha. What happened to you!? I thought you dislike this kind of gloomy and cheerless book. Overall, your essay seems fine: organization, flow, and clear and strong statements. I think there are few things that is kind of lack in your essay. First, I think it will be better if you give little bit more information about the story or the protagonist, such as background, in the introduction to make it more interesting. Second, the tone of this essay is too negative and depressing. However, I think your interesting ideas and flow motivate readers to keep on reading, which is good. Nevertheless, I think the essay will sound better if you make it neutral by not exaggerating or using less extreme words. Third, I found a sentence that seems like a general statement: “as all big brothers are the eyes of younger brothers”. When I red this, a question came up to me: All brothers are like that? I mean this statement is good because it sounds positive and quite logical. However, I think this statement is your general belief. Besides few of those problems, overall your essay is great. Good Job Jin :)

Nathan Cho

 Comment Sarah Hwang's First Essay
 * Comment #2**

Hi Sarah! How are you doing? I hope you are having a great last day of summer vacation.... When I came into your page, I was quiet surprised because you chose the same book as me for the summer reading. Furthermore, I was more surprised because you wrote about the "Quest" for your first essay. Personally, it was hard for me to think of any quest that happened in this book. So, I chose not to write about it sigh.... I think your idea in this essay is very creative and I like it! ^ ^ In your introduction, I noticed that you did not mention in which page all those five following things are shown by Foster. Other than that, I think your introduction and thesis is clear and good. Next, I am not sure if this "Matt is oppressed by a boundary that blocks him to interfere with other people" is your second paragraph because you did not space it. Next, I am not sure if it is necessary to write all those quotes down. For third paragraph, just write down the quotes what you think it is important for the readers to understand your essay. For the last, I think you need to be more clear with the conclusion because it does not directly match with your thesis. Other than that overall your essay is fine. Good Job!

Nathan Cho 
 * IMPORTANT: Your summer reading assignment page should have five essays (copy and pasted) and two comments (copy and pasted). If I have to look for your assignments, points will be deducted!**