The House of the Scorpion

Farmer’s award winning text creates a very purposeful dystopia that is relevant to our contemporary world. In my brief experience with the genre of science fiction, I have mostly read texts that use the elements of science fiction more for the purpose of creating an engaging setting than for social commentary (Ender’s Game, Star Wars, etc.). However, this text does both for me. The world of Opium is very interesting - I found myself often interested in learning more about the world in which the text was set – the politics, the history, how it came to be, etc. At the same time, it also served as a chillingly nightmarish future of our own world - if some of our current societal ails are encouraged and not halted. Those that I identified most with were the issue of human cloning, the power and influence of drug cartels, the treatment of illegal immigrants, and stratification of the classes.

With the scientific advances that have been made with DNA research and cloning of animals (including a baby goat “Dolly” in 1997), the possibility of human cloning has been a very conceivable possibility - and in the forefront of many ethical discussions. The possibilities of extending human life are very real, but beg questions of dignity to arise. This seems to be a fairly commonly occurring motif in science fiction literature, likely due to it’s being a hot topic in modern science. Brave New World, A Handmaiden’s Tale (as far as I could tell, because I hated this text), and House of the Scorpion all focus on this issue. The main character Mateo, being a living organ farm for a monster of a person, brings the reader face to face with the inevitable conflict on needing to sacrifice one life to sustain another in a world where such technology is possible. The question that the reader is left to ponder is where basic human dignity comes from… This text illustrates all human beings have equal intrinsic value, though this may not be reflected by the world we live in.

I used to live in Mexico for a short period of time after completing my undergraduate studies, and I was able to learn about problems of corruption within various Latin American governments during that time from the interaction that I had with Mexican people I befriended and through the local media. Studying power can be a very interesting and frightening thing, especially when one considers how influential coercion and bribery can be - and that no level of government is safe from such influences. In this text, we are able to see the great amount of power that El Patron wields. Like today’s drug cartels that are wrestling legitimate power away from some governments, he is powerful, wealthy, and capable of cruel action in order to influence others. He is the face of what have become “acceptable” organized crime cartels in our world; allowed to exist for the fear that he inspires.

One more contemporary issue that is brought to light is the treatment of immigrants, especially illegal immigrants in our society. This is an issue that is of special importance to me, as I have spent much time as a tutor for Chicanos Latinos Unidos En Servicio (CLUES), which serves as an adult education center in South Minneapolis that aims to help all immigrants, regardless of legal status. Additionally, I teach Kindred to my junior English classes at MGSH, and incorporate a mini-lesson on human trafficking in the Twin Cities to help students recognize that slavery is an issue that is still very relevant to our world. Many of the victims of human trafficking in our area are immigrants (legal as well as illegal) who are trapped and/or coerced into lives of servitude. This problem is very real, and surprisingly prevalent. In House of the Scorpion, Farmer shows this same issue with immigrants who are forced into lives of servitude as they are turned into eejits, or beings without any power of choice or free will. Their freedom and ability to think for themselves are literally removed from them by the addition of a computer chip – In our real world, victims of human trafficking lose their freedom through deception, threats, fear, and other forms of control.

In addition to the issue of modern slavery in our world, another relevant theme that Farmer’s text explores is the stratification of classes - in the world that Farmer creates, there is an almost caste-like system set up that is very rigid, and determines the worth of the individual. Mateo struggles with being outcast for others thinking he is an eejit, and later he struggles with being looked upon as nothing more than a clone, a circumstance which is beyond his control. Though some of the characters recognize more in Mateo than this, there still seems to be a limit to what some characters are capable of regarding him as. Maria, for example, never seems to see him as an equal; his relationship with her seems always to be a subservient one.

The first step in correcting a vice is recognizing its existence. I feel that Farmer has done this with House of the Scorpion.