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In the distant future, the mood is slightly gloomy. Opium- a desert country between Azlan, which once was called Mexico, and the United States of America

2. Character List- make sure to list each main character and include a brief description and quote from the character Matt Alacran: A clone of El Patron, he is intelligent-more so than the average clone-and determined to survive. "It's my party too, so I can have anything I want. Isn't that right //Mi patron?//" El Patron The most powerful drug lord in Opium, he is very wealthy and possessive. He loves Matt because he loves himself. "He's //my// clone" Maria Mendoza The daughter of Senator Mendoza, a powerful drug lord and El Patron's trusted ally, and Esperanza, an author who revealed the truth about El Patron in her book. The sister to Emilia, Maria is determined, and dramatic. She is in love with Matt. "Bad clone!" "Oh, why won't you talk?" Tam Lin El Patron and Matt's bodyguard. He murdered twenty children in Scotland with a bomb intended for the British Prime Minister, so he cannot leave Opium or El Patron will turn him into the police. He helps Matt to escape. "But you're a clone. You haven't got anyone to explain things to you." Celia

The maid who takes care of Matt. She takes care of Matt and doesn't want him to give his heart to El Patron so she feeds him arsenic, so if El Patron takes his heart then El Patron will die.

**Discussion Prompt One:**
=== **As a group: ** ===

One of the main topics or issues discussed in The House of the Scorpion is human cloning. Read the following article on human cloning and discuss it in your group. What do you learn about it and it is likely to be possible in the future?"How Human Cloning will Work." []  3. **As an individual**-W rite a reflection individually under Discussion Post 1. Pay attention to conventions, organization, and ideas and content.THEN: Read and comment on your other group's posts. //What do you think are the ethical considerations of cloning? Do you think countries should ban human cloning or not? How is cloning being used in The House of Scorpion?// The ethical considerations of cloning are fairly obvious. Should clones get equal human rights? Is the egg donor the clones parent? Which person is the real one? Is it violating the clone's rights to use them for organ harvesting? I think human cloning should be banned, but perhaps the stem cell cloning to create new organs like hearts and livers for people is ethically sound. In //The house of the Scorpion//, clones are treated in an inhumane way-they are mutilated so that they cannot develop full intelligence, and they are treated worse than animals-before being killed at a young age for organs. I think it's odd that they treat clones so badly in the book, since clones are just a copy of you. -Niah

There are a lot of ethical considerations about cloning. The main problem is that clones are created for organs, but they have intelligence so they don't want to be killed. In House of the Scorpion the clones intelligence is destroyed, but that is cruel. If clones are treated like lab animals than they could be used for anything. I think that organs should be created if someone has a medical emergency, like heart failure. But they can't use it just to live longer, the world is overpopulated already. However those organs should come for stem cells, not clones. Maybe clones could be useful in a situation like the army, to not endanger citizens and to let the clones fight. But, clones should not be created for organs. It's hard to say if El Patrons way of cloning is better or worse than MacGregor. El Patron gives the clones a nice life, until the end and they know everything that is happening. MacGregor keeps them stupid all the time. -**TYLER**

**Discussion Prompt 2- Group**
1. Describe Matt's relationship with Celia. Why is she the servant chosen to care for Matt? Celia snaps at Matt when he calls her mama. Then she says to him, "I love you more than anything in the world. Never forget that. But you were only loaned to me, mi vida." Why doesn't she explain the term loaned to Matt? Celia really believes that she is protecting Matt by keeping him locked in her cottage and ignorant about his identity. Debate whether this type of protection is indeed dangerous for him. How does Celia continue to protect Matt throughout his life on the Alacrán Estate?

Matt has a good relationship to Celia. She is like his mom but she doesn't wants to be called a mom because she is not she also feels that he is going to be taken away from her so she wants to keep the relation casual like when Matt was taken away from her and kept as a pet. If no one knows he is a clone it could be dangerous for him and he could just get killed.

2. Discuss the role of Mariá, and Celia in helping Matt escape the prison. Rosá describes El Patrón as a bandit.(chapter 5) How has El Patrón stolen the lives of all those living on his estate? Which characters are his partners in evil? Debate whether they support him for the sake of their own survival. Maria and Celia helped Matt to escape the prison because El Patron would never have let Matt be treated like that, and when they let him know, he punished Rosa accordingly. El Patron steals the lives of the people on his estate by taking away their freedom-they are a part of his 'dragon hoard'. He is a bandit because he steals their freedom. His drug lord allies are his partners in evil. But he has so much power, nobody can do anything to escape. They are are fairly safe in his estate so they do not escape.

3. pg. 70 Explain what Tam Lin is trying to tell Matt when he says, "If you are kind and decent, you grow into a kind and decent man. If you're like El Patrón...just think about it." Considering that Matt is the clone of El Patrón, debate whether environment influences evil more than genetics.

4. How does Matt imitate El Patrón's power when he demands a birthday kiss from Mariá? Discuss how El Patrón encourages Matt's uncharacteristic behavior. Why is Mariá so humiliated by Matt's demand? How does Matt feel the crowd's disapproval? Matt acts

**Vocabulary**
**aristocrat** - A member of a ruling class or of the nobility.

**dire** - foreboding disaster; ominous

**douse** - to plunge or be plunged into water or some other liquid;

**harangue** - A long pompous speech

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 * Themes **