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The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is science fiction at its best. It is a novel set in some future in an area that used to be the southwestern United States, but now is an independent region called Opium, ruled by drug lords, cocaine producers and smugglers. Needless to say, the future in this book is dystopic, chaotic, and violent. It’s a lawless place where the only order comes from the iron-fisted control these drug lords can exercise over the people who live in their lands. We soon learn that, in this future, humans have mastered human cloning technology and that the main character, Matteo, is a clone. One of the more interesting aspects of The House of the Scorpion is the fundamental questions that surround Matteo. Are clones fully human? Nancy Farmer isn’t predicting that the American Southwest will become an independent drug lord-controlled country. Nor is she predicting human cloning - though the technology to produce human clones more or less exists today. She is using the setting of the future to gain some distance from the present, in order to comment on it. I think The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is at the forefront of exploring, through literature, what it means to be human.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is science fiction at its best. It is a novel set in some future in an area that used to be the southwestern United States, but now is an independent region called Opium, ruled by drug lords, cocaine producers and smugglers. Needless to say, the future in this book is dystopic, chaotic, and violent. It’s a lawless place where the only order comes from the iron-fisted control these drug lords can exercise over the people who live in their lands. We soon learn that, in this future, humans have mastered human cloning technology and that the main character, Matteo, is a clone. One of the more interesting aspects of The House of the Scorpion is the fundamental questions that surround Matteo. Are clones fully human? Nancy Farmer isn’t predicting that the American Southwest will become an independent drug lord-controlled country. Nor is she predicting human cloning - though the technology to produce human clones more or less exists today. She is using the setting of the future to gain some distance from the present, in order to comment on it. I think The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is at the forefront of exploring, through literature, what it means to be human.

Posted on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
ireadkidsbooks I read kids books is what I do. It's just me, reading kids books and writing my thoughts. I have a M.Ed. in Children's Literature, so in my years of researching children’s literature, I’ve found that children’s literature is essential to the personal and academic development of all children because it is a window that not only opens, but also reflects the diversity of our human experience. More importantly, it lets young readers and readers of all ages know that children and people like them are worthy of being in books. If you have any questions, comments, observations, or if you just want to say hello, send me an email.
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