The House of the Scorpion - Clone "Racism"

The House of the Scorpions revolves around the main character, Matt Alacran, as he develops and matures as a person from childhood, to a teenager, and finally, to an adult. But unlike other people, Matt is a clone who was only taken care of simply because the ruler of Opium, a fictional country between Mexico and the United States, would be subjected to health problems and would need the clone’s organs transplanted onto him to survive. Once Matt is found out to be a clone, the people around him treat him as if he was a monster and avoided him if it was unnecessary. Matt also goes through a state of denial and tries to convince himself that he is more than a clone.

Clones or replicas definitely present a moral issue if we were to somehow develop the means to do so in the future. Identity thefts, “racism” against clones, and potential killings of the original are all factors that could occur if clones were to happen in the future. Though it can see a medical purpose in terms of having the same blood types and organs as their originals, the “racism” against clones, and even against their originals would be a predominant effect if clones were to be developed for human beings. I would personally not support the idea of clones in the future; it’s okay for a movie or novel plot, but apply it to real life, and we may have an issue or issues that may not go away for centuries. It would be similar to the black struggle that we had about a century ago; even today, there is still some lingering stereotypes and racism present. The Ku Klux Klan still survives even to this day, proof that issues like racism are hard to kill and completely eliminate once introduced.

Nancy Farmer, through this novel, wanted to show how vulnerable people are when it comes to actually developing elements that people would normally see on sci-fi films. Exemplified by the people in the novel who just view Matt as a monster, most people in today’s society cannot deal with the supernatural or weird elements. Fancy technology makes them go “Wow!”, but in comparison, clones, ghosts, or really anything disconfigured in terms of biology freaks people out. After reading the work, Farmer is trying to get us to be more accepting of all the ideas, opinions, and even people out there in the world. Just because someone is different or doesn’t conform to today’s society doesn’t mean that he or she is evil and deserves to be shunned. The novel seems to imply that today’s society still has not grown accustomed to the brand new ideas lurking around there; tradition is still highly valued and anything different gets tossed in the trash. All of this is seen through the perspective of the main character of the novel; Farmer develops an emotional bond between her readers and the main character by being along with him through the entirety of his life. That way, her readers can understand and sympathize with him, which then leads to acknowledging one of the messages in the book.