Chapters 1-25 - Emily

A lot has happened in chapters 1-25, especially change in characters and interactions between them. The relationship between Matt and El Patron is particularly interesting. Matt is convinced that he is different than all the other clones and that El Patron will not use him for spare body parts. Matt thinks this because of how El Patron treated Matt, Matt got whatever he wanted, he was smarter than the rest and he was sure he was different. When El Patron is ill and in the hospital Matt discovers that he was going to be used for spare parts, then couldn't. They couldn't use him for spare parts because Celia had been feeding him little bits of poison to make him ill, but not enough to kill him. The amounts he was receiving would kill a brail, old man much like El Patron. I find the relationship between these two characters really interesting and it really surprised me in the end.

Chapters 1-25 Bryden

Detailed opinion piece on Tam Lin:

I think that the relationship between Tam Lin and Matt is very interesting as El Patron's Scottish body guard was basically Matt's father figure of the story. In the beginning of their relationship, it seemed that Tam Lin was an outspoken yet quite man who had no problem getting his hands dirty. I would never have thought of him as anything close to a father figure. Throughout the first few sections, he seemed to start growing as a character and became a dynamic and round character. He started to have emotions and started caring about Matt and treated him as a normal human being. With Tam Lin leaving half-way through the novel, I was honestly depressed. I needed Tam Lin in the book because he was the character that seemed to balance everyone out, and example being how he could calm and protect Matt while also having a relationship with Celia and an equal hatred with Matt for Tom. Tam Lin was an overall powerful influence towards most of the characters in the story, at least for the first 25 chapters.

During the latter part of the chapters 1-25, we as the readers discover a relationship between Tam Lin and Celia. This relationship truly reinforces the idea of Tam Lin being the father figure to Matt, while Celia is the mother figure to Matt as well. This fact reinforces the idea of Tam Lin becoming a round and dynamic character because from the beginning where he was recently introduced into the story, he was not thought of as much, but throughout the book, he grows a lot as a character. As the father figure, Tam Lin really has filled his role because even though El Patron chose Tam Lin because he was from another country so he wouldn't betray him, Tam Lin let El Patron die in the end just for Matt's safety. I like Tam Lin.

Tyler 1-25

In chapters 1-25 of The House of the Scorpion, I think that the most interesting and inciting thing about the book was the character development. Not only in Matt, but in the surrounding characters like, Maria, Tam Lin, and even Celia. in the first few chapters of The House Of The Scorpion, we saw Matt as just a random kid who was locked in a house. But as the book went on and as we get deeper into the book, Matt unveiled more layers, as he becomes a very dynamic character. Maria changed in a very similar was as Matt, because in the beginning she was a kind of a spoiled brat around other people but when she is around Matt she evolves into a very religious person who believes anything is possible if you try hard enough. I think Celia changed the least amount, but she did change even though she didn't want Matt proclaiming to others that she was his mother at the end and through out the book. I think that is what Farmer wanted the readers to think that she was Matt's mother figure .Tam Lin changed the most, second to Matt. At the beginning of the book Tam Lin seemed a big and scary guy with the possibility of being friendly and as we go through the book he becomes more and more parental and loving toward Matt. Tam Lin showed that he loved Matt in chapter 24 when he snuck Matt out of the Alacran Mansion to get him to safety and I think that farmer was trying to in directly state that Tam Lin was the father figure.

Gattaca post Tyler

In the past few days I have watched the movie Gattaca and read the book House of the Scorpions in the past few months. When watching the movie Gattaca, I realized that it has so many connections between the characters in the movie and the book. Some of the main character in scorpion are: Matt, Maria, Chacho, Fidelito, Tam Lin, Tom and in Gattaca: Vincent, Irene, Jerome, Dr. Lamar, Antonio. Let's start the comparisons of the main characters. In the bookm, Matt has a fiery passion for being different and unique and not being what he it meant or thought to to be, having a deep desire to be more than they were meant to be Matt and Vincent are very similar, as Matt was meant to be a clone for spare parts and Vincent was a non genetically modified human that was supposed to be part of a new under class but both were more than supposed to be and conquered through life to reach there goals. Maria in the book has a very similar character in Gattaca which is Irene. Both of them can always see through people to there real selves and not the ones that the people hide behind and they both love the main characters for who they are and not what they have achieved Tam Lin reminded me of mostly of Jerome, because he would give every thing he has to help the other. I also see a little bit of Tam Lin in Dr. Lamar who even though Vincent should him his real DNA, Dr. Lamar still let him go into space. Antonio in the movie Gattaca is the main character, Vincent's little brother who is unlike Vincent, genetically modified. Through out the movie Antonio is better than Vincent but one day he beats him in a swimming race and saved his life. After that, Vincent had the inspiration to reach for the stars. Antonio reminds me very closely of Tom, Tom in the book is the antagonist and is always thinking that he is more superior to Matt but that is not where the similarities stop the Tom is full of himself and so is Antonio, and also they are both gave the inspiration to the main character to keep going either through pure desire or enragement. Both Matt and Vincent "didn't leave anything for the swim back."

Gattaca Post - Emily

Matt in The House of the Scorpion and Vincent in Gattaca are fairly similar characters. Both characters are other people just in different ways. Matt is a clone of someone else so he is exactly like El Patron was when he was little. Vincent wants to have a job at Gattaca but is unable to because of how he is genetically modified. Vincent pretends to be Jerome who is genetically perfect, just he's in a wheelchair. Towards the end of the book Matt has to leave the estate and he is caught by Farm Patrol. The people at the orphanage can't know he is a clone and that he is property of Alacran Estate. When Vincent was younger him and his brother had swimming competitions in the ocean, they would see who could go the farthest without stopping. When Matt was little he was imprisoned by Rosa for a couple of years. I think this is similar they were both fighting for their lives in different ways. Matt was being treated like a pig and was becoming really unhealthy. Vincent was in the ocean swimming for his life in order to beat his brother, which he never did until they were older. He would get to a point when it was so tiring it was hard for him to go back. As a kid vincent was treated worse than his brother and it wasn't fair. Vincent's younger brother Anton was genetically modified to be the perfect child. On the other hand Vincent was the first child and had quite a few health issues. Even though the books have completely different story lines, you can compare the main characters in a few different ways.

Gattaca Post - Haley

            House of the Scorpion & the movie Gattaca, are similar in many ways. For starters, they both take place in a futuristic world, and the characters and their relationships are very similar. The main similarities between characters that I saw, were Matt & Vincent, Tam Lin & Jerome, Maria & Irene, and Tom & Antonio.

            Although Matt and Vincent are very different in age as well as appearance, they have a lot of underlying factors that really connect them. Not only do they both live in a futuristic world where genetically creating people is the norm, but they both are fighting to be considered an equal among others. As well, people view Matt and Vincent as the minority among society. While Matt is living in Opium, most people loathe and despise him because he is a clone, and therefore don't consider him a human. When Vincent is still using his own identity, people treat him as an unequal because he isn't as intelligent as everyone else and could have health problems. They both are ostracized and outsiders which is the most noticeable similarity between the two. Due to their depressing situations, both Matt and Vincent have to take on a new identity, Matt when he escapes to Aztlan and Vincent when he becomes Jerome Eugene Marrow.

            Tom and Antonio (Vincent's brother) both act as foils to the protagonist (Matt and Vincent). The swimming competitions that Antonio and Vincent have in Gattaca, are symbolic. They represent Vincent proving that he is stronger than his brother, even though Antonio was selected through preimplantation genetic diagnosis. In House of the Scorpion, Matt is always working his hardest at everything to prove he is better than Tom. These similarities make Matt and Antonio characters that are alike, with a related role in the plot. Especially, because both Antonio and Tom find themselves being well loved and the poster child in their families or groups, even though they should not be. I also feel that both Antonio and Tom are quite vain characters that feel they are superior to Vincent and Matt, when really they are just deemed better by society.

            I feel that Tam Lin and Jerome Marrow have many things in common, appearance being one of them. Although Jerome is in a wheelchair and isn't nearly as stocky as Tam Lin, they both have an intimidating edge to their look. Also, they act as caretakers in the story. Tam Lin's purpose is to protect Matt, and in a way Jerome's purpose is to protect Vincent. When Jerome is present in Gattaca, he is always providing Matt his DNA samples or giving him tips.  In the end, both characters have similar mindsets and are unhappy with their lives, leading them to commit suicide.

Although Maria and Irene are very different in age, they both play the protagonists romantic interest. Both of them carry a very mysterious aura, and Matt and Vincent can't really read them or figure out what they're going to do. When Irene found out that Vincent was not who he was pretending to be, she looked quite horrified and afraid, but she never left his side. Maria has a similar reaction to Matt at first, but she never feels that Matt is very different than anyone else so she welcomes him. 

Roundtable Discussion 4

http://vimeo.com/40308991

Gattaca Post - Garret

I found that these two movies linked together very well, in both movies there were imposing a clone in some way. In the movie Gattaca, Vincent didn’t have the right heart to fly to the moon, which was his dream. What I mean by didn’t have the right “heart” was that he had a heart problem and wasn’t fit and it showed in his blood work. So what he did was he took the blood work pretending to be someone else that had the right blood work and pretended to be him. Something he is not.  In the house of scorpions he is actually a clone of El Patron but he doesn’t want anyone to know because he thinks that he will treat him differently because he is not “normal” and this is exactly what happened to Vincent in the movie Gattaca. What they both show is that in both The house of the Scorpion and Gattaca, both Vincent and Matt posed as someone they weren’t and people didn’t even know that they weren’t. What this shows is they treated them perfectly normal even know they were not. They were treating them differently for no reason, and maybe they should realize that both Matt and Vincent were not so different after all. In both Gattaca and The house of Scorpions, love conquers all is the main theme. In the House of scorpions its about how he loves Maria and how she loves him, even tho she said she will probably go to hell for it she loved him. In Gattaca its a bit different kind of love, but still. In Gattaca, Vincent had a great love for space. He wanted to travel to space ever since he was a little kid, he knew with the heart problem that it was almost impossible for him but his heart was the only thing keeping his dream alive, the love for space. Like he said, he left nothing for the swim back.

Chapters 1-25 Haley

Now that Matt has just made it to Aztlan, I am intrigued and interested in what Matt’s new life will be like. After the long and dangerous trek Matt has embarked on, I hope that it will have all paid off and that his new life will be carefree. I am also eager to learn if the people of Aztlan will ever find out that Matt is a clone. It has been difficult to read about all the hardships that Matt has lived through, so I hope that chapter 26 brings a close to that period of his life.

 I have loved the intricate relationships that Nancy Farmer has created in this book. Matt’s friendships and bonds with Celia, Maria, Tam Lin, and El Patron are all very powerful and fascinating. Specifically, Tam Lin and Matt have a very father-son like bond. How Tam Lin is able to view Matt as an equal is inspiring, especially because all the other characters think Matt to be a beast. I also really enjoyed how Farmer painted the picture that Felicia is the only kind soul in the Alacran household, while she was recently exposed as being very brutal and viscous, carrying a strong hatred for Matt. The only thing that I haven’t liked about this book so far is the constant darkness that Matt experiences. It makes me especially hopeful that he will find his place in Aztlan.

The main theme that I have seen in this book is all people are equal. I think this book explores some upsetting discrimination that we have in our society. Whether it is racism or sexism, it still occurs in this day and age. While Nancy Farmer doesn’t directly make any links, I still feel the presence of those underlying issues in the bullying that Matt endures.

Celia Story - Bryden

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15301835
This article is of 2 illegal immigrants that boarded what some know as the “the train of death”, or “the beast” to the American border. These immigrants say that the trip itself was probably the worst experience of their lives. One woman that boarded the train talked about the treacherous people that hung around and raped or sexually abused women if they did not have money to take. The ride takes days, sometimes weeks. Most of the ones that were interviewed by BBC reporters say that the ride is much worse for females because of the sexual assault that they go through. This way to cross the Mexican-American border is very dangerous as well, as the trip includes sitting on top of a fast speeding train, possible death of dehydration and hunger, and also dealing with border patrol once the refugees get to the border. 
I think that this trip would be definitely the worst days of my comfy life. I have never gone through anything of such danger and I’m sure many of the people that tried to get past the border in this manner could also say such about this horribly unsafe journey. I would think that the people daring to risk their lives in such a way are extremely desperate for freedom or a new life. I could not understand the pain it would be for Omar (an interviewee of the article) to go on the beast and be sent back to El Salvador, just to go on the beast once more. “Tam Lin says rabbits give up when they're caught by coyotes," Matt said after he'd calmed enough to trust his voice. "He says they consent to die because they're animals and can't understand hope. (House of the Scorpion) I think that this quotation fits in because the people that dare to ride “the beast” are desperate for another chance in life and in many of their situations, without a second chance, they may as well end up dead on the streets.

Celia's Story - Emily

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdEKoXtxxnWBQdVjpszer-M-dC3Q?docId=d6f94b63861349b0a64682cff0c88789

My article is about a married couple, Agustin is forced to live in Mexico and Ana forced to live in the U.S. Ana has two kids of her own and three grandchildren. At one point Ana was living in the States and her kids were in Mexico. Ana told Agustin he had to help her kids cross the border, illegally. The kids who were 9 and 12, were too young to cross the border with a coyote, people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S. They ended up having to cross 3 borders before making it into the United States and during that time drug smugglers and gang leaders threatened their lives.  With Agustin’s help the kids finally made it into the United States to be reunited with their family. This story is about a family who wants to be reunited and will do anything to make that happen.

This is similar to what Celia went through, though she never actually made it to the United States. Celia was trying to cross the border with coyotes and during that time her life was threatened, just like in this article I found. I can imagine it would have been hard for this family being separated by the border and unable to cross legally. This led them to having to cross illegally to be reunited, making this story more personal. In the book Celia says “No, darling. A man who takes people over the border. You pay him and he helps you go to the United States. Only first you have to cross the Farms.” Celia Shivered. “What an idiot I was! Those people don’t help you go anywhere. They lead you straight to Farm Patrol.” This is similar to the article, the coyotes did help Agustin and the kids but it took a lot longer than expected. 

Celia's Story - Haley

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43499929/ns/us_news-life/t/pulitzer-winning-journalist-admits-hes-illegal-immigrant/#.T2oyJWYbLfg

At age 12, Jose Antonio Vargas was sent from his home in the Philippines, to California to live with his grandparents. He never suspected he was an illegal immigrant until he applied for his driver’s license at age 16, when the clerk told him he had a fake green card. After confronting his grandfather, he learned his grandparents had purchased him fake documents. With help from his high school principal and superintendent, Jose received a scholarship to San Francisco State University, which helped him achieve his dream of becoming a writer. After a promising internship at the Washington Post, Jose received a job there and quickly became a well-known writer. Jose had written a profile of Mark Zuckerberg for The New Yorker, written an article on the HIV/AIDS epidemic which inspired a documentary, and received a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Even with his contributions to the United States, Jose is facing deportation after he announced to the public that he is an illegal immigrant. Now, Jose is pushing for Congress to pass the DREAM Act, which would allow illegal immigrants like Jose to become citizens if they serve in the army or go to University. I believe that people like Jose should be allowed to stay, regardless of the rules. For starters, Jose was unknowing of his illegal status and he’s had a positive contribution to the United States.

In The House of the Scorpion, I find Matt’s story very similar to Jose’s. Matt was forced by Celia & Tam Lin (parent figures) to make a run for it over the Opium and Alacran border, and Jose was sent by his parents to illegally live with his grandparents. Both were of similar age when this happened, and were sent by their parents or caretakers to live in a different country for a better life.

When Celia wanted to go the United States, she turned to a Coyote, a man who takes people over the border. She did this because she didn’t know of any other way to reach the United States, and needed to escape her life in Alacran.  In the book and in real life, the millions of illegal immigrants are leading people to question if it is too difficult to be granted immigration to ‘in-demand’ countries such as the United States and Canada. 

Bryden 1-9

I had many questions going through the second section, chapters 1-9 of the book, The House of the Scorpion. Many of these questions are around the development of the characters and with Farmer putting more detail into them. I was wondering of how the relationship between Matt and El Patron will go throughout the rest of the book. I also wonder how the relationship between Maria and Matt will go throughout the story, as there seem to be issues between them and Tom. I also wonder how Tom will treat Matt, as he now knows that Matt is El Patron's clone and of the importance Matt is to El Patron.

This section really shows the importance of many of the characters such as El Patron. The section also creates many issues such as the conflict between Tom and Matt and also the conflict between Maria and Matt that, I would think, is important to the latter part of the story. I am very excited for the rest of the story as many new characters and conflicts are coming out now.

Celia's Story - Tyler

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/11200-gunfight-at-mexican-border-forces-unusual-crossing-closures

This article is about a mexican drug fight that caused the US government to shut down two international boarder crossing stations. The Article states that because of this fight between the mexican government and the mexican drug traffickers, they would have harmed more people than they helped by trying to catch all of the drug pedlars. The reason that they harmed people is because of the location. This location was so important to people who are leaving the country because they could not get out of the country and could get killed by: Starvation, Drug wars, and Bandits who hid in bushes to steal all there belongings no mater what even if they have to kill them. Just think about a small family who gambles there lives to give there kids a better life than they had had. Just when the people think the gate to their new life is open it closes right in front of there faces. There was exact family in that fit the description and you probably visualized when the drug fight erupted and they where killed with out a second thought.

This article can relate to the house of the scorpion, not only is the article and book about drugs but in the way that the family wanted a better life for them selfs and there children. This is some-what like El Patron in the way that they all took the initiative to take it upon themselves to work toward a better future, only El Patron was in a more selfish way because he was only working for his self and not others. On the other hand the mexican family was working together to have a brighter future for everyone. You can also look at Celia's experience with boarder crossing, the only difference was Celia didn't have a family to work with it was just her all by her lonesome, but I would not doubt that if Celia had a family she would have thought in the same what as the family in the article did. You can see the total dedication in the story of the family, and that is how you know some one cares for you, they fight for you and your freedom to the last breath they take.

Roundtable Discussion #3 (Playlist choice)

Chapter 1-9 Tyler

This section of the book was very well thought out. For example, in the first section you can really tell that Nancy Farmer is setting up for the actual book to start. The characters really developed in this part of the book, specifically that Matt started off living in the little house, and in the second part, he further develops his character. Matt developed so much in the way that he discovered the outside world that Celia was trying to shelter him from.

In this section I was wondering about the fact that Matt really likes and appreciates EL Patron and how that could turn out for him. For me, it seems that El Patron actually likes Matt as much as he shows, but could El Patron have other plans for Matt? Is he just trying to comfort Matt while he lures him into something bigger than he is? I was struck by how complex and vivid the characters are in this chapter. When I read the book, the characters stood out to me and expressed themselves in ways that are unique to me.

Tam Lin's Playlist

1. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWAdb1vgoik

Every time I listen to the song Call Me Maybe, my mind resonates with “Tam Lin” because of the uncertainty that Jepsen creates through the song. An example of this trait of uncertainty is the line where Jepsen says, “Here’s my number, so call me maybe.” This line makes me feel uncertain of Jepsen’s future with the male figure she is talking about. This reminds me of Tam Lin because he is very uncertain throughout the book so far as well. An example of this is through the introduction of Tam Lin, he is said to be very friendly when El Patron is showcasing him to Matt. Afterwards, when Tam Lin finds a teacher for Matt, he is very impatient and easily tempered. This song relates to the unstable personality of Tam Lin. This song also relates to Tam Lin’s criminal past. On the line where Jepsen says, “All the other boys, try to chase me” relates to Tam Lin because in his native country, the police and military were trying to chase him down and punish him for his metabolically inappropriate heinous acts of terrorism.

2. Celtic Nature Music 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dOpd30QapA

I think Tam Lin would listen to nature music. I think this because Tam Lin always gives Matt nature books and just from that you can tell that Tam Lin loves nature. Even without the books you can find examples, such as Tam Lin not telling anyone except Matt about the secret oasis. He did this to make sure it would stay in its original beauty and not be used by the Alacrans. Also, when Matt finds the iron chest with the note inside it specifically says that he loves nature and wishes that Matt would love it as much as he does. This kind of music is meant to sooth people and transport them to the place that they love most, and I think that that would have been of use for Tam Lin, to escape reality for as long as he wanted or was allowed. Since there are no lyrics I think this is the only use that Tam Lin could have used this song, but to escape is feelings of the bombing and the 20 lives that he took.

3. Donald Where’s Your Trousers - The Irish Rovers

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2fizeoT22g

Since Tam Lin grew up immersed in Scottish heritage, “Donald Where’s Your Trousers” would remind him of his life back home and all the men around him wearing kilts. A particular verse in this song stands out to me, “Let the wind blow high and the wind blow low, through the streets in my kilt I go. ” I believe this line would really resonate with Tam Lin because it is very likely that he spent much of his childhood wandering the streets if not wearing a kilt, seeing many older men that Tam Lin looked up to, wearing this culturally-unique piece of apparel. Although Tam Lin never talked about his childhood, we can assume it was one of a typical Scottish boy.


4. Wasn’t That a Party - The Irish Rovers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVPu5v_S0Lk

I think that Tam Lin would enjoy listening to The Irish Rovers because of their unique, modern-day Irish sound. In spite of the fact that Tam Lin is Scottish not Irish, both countries have many similarities historically, geographically, and culturally. Although, Tam Lin has a depressing past, everyone needs an upbeat party song to keep them in good spirits. Not only does “Wasn’t That a Party” do that, it would also remind Tam Lin of his home and life before he came to work for El Patron in Opium. For Tam Lin, this song would be a pick-up song and fill him with memories of his lively days.

5. I Didn't Mean to Hurt You - John Lennon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzhyKn1ThpU

Tam Lin has a secret that he hates to tell people, a deep dark secret that he would easily consign to oblivion if he had the choice to. Tam Lin planted a bomb in front of Wall Street not meaning to kill any innocent citizens. When the exact opposite happened, the bomb blew up and killed 20 kids on a bus. The title says it all “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” showing that he never meant to kill those innocent kids. When John Lennon sings the line “I was dreaming of the past and my heart was beating fast I began to lose control.” It shows that Tam Lin goes back to the dreadful memory of killing those kids, remember that he is no better than the murders behind bars. Every time he goes back to these memories he is instantly sent into a deep and melancholy mood. Page 177 where Ralf says, “he is a bloody terrorist," it shows that to some people he is thought to be as bad as the people behind bars but in fact, he didn’t mean to hurt anyone.


6. Slow Poison - The Bravery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE2pgA8Q2bY&ob=av2e

This song shows that Tam Lin was strong. Tam Lin drank poison at the end knowing that he would die, even though he must have seen the skull with two bones at the bottom of the bottle indicating that the substance was poisonous, and extremely dangerous if inhaled or drank, he didn’t care. It was probably also pretty corrosive and inflammable but he didn’t use that to his advantage. In the song, the lyrics read “And All Of My Dreams Are Only Dreams And All Of My Schemes Are Only Schemes And If This Is My Punishment Then I Want My Card To Fit” This matches where Celia says on page 377 “why did he drink the poison?” “does he think that it would make up for everything that he did?” and that's exactly what Tam Lin must of thought, he took other peoples lives and didn't think that he should live himself and this would be his punishment.

7. You Found Me - The Fray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMlou7Q0GRE

Tam Lin would be listening to this song I think around the time he committed suicide. The lyrics, “who I am, who I'm not and who I wanna be”, relates to Tam Lin because he killed himself for doing something he regretted. He killed 20 school kids who were riding the school bus at the time. In the song it says “Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me”, this relates to Tam Lin because he kills himself once El Patron is dead and in the letter for Matt he writes, “El Patron says I have to go with him.” I think Tam Lin feels that El Patron was a big part of turning Tam Lin’s life around once Tam Lin had made bad choices in life. Once El Patron is dead I think Tam Lin felt like he was nothing without El Patron and so he went with him.

8. Cough Syrup - Young the Giant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhBuAkWKz6Q&feature=fvst

“Life’s too short to even care at all... these zombies in the park, they’re looking for my heart, a dark world aches for a splash of the sun.” I think that Tam Lin would relate to this verse, as it’s implying that people are searching for him and trying to bring him down (to prison). As well, this song really has a ‘dark days’ depressing theme and I believe that Tam Lin would listen to it in his darkest moments. Specifically, when he had suicidal thoughts and believed that he didn’t deserve to live after the 20 innocent lives he took. Tam Lin knew that El Patron had laced the bottle of wine with poison, yet he willingly drank it knowing that he couldn’t live with the thought of what he had done. Since this song is about drinking cough syrup to numb the pain, it closely relates to Tam Lin’s scenario.

9. Defender - Gabriella Cilmi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OmX7Bjp8ZA&ob=av2e

This song clearly describes Tam Lin’s relationship with Matt (the protagonist of the story) as it fits clearly with their relationship. An example of this is the line where she says, “So just remember I am your defender, I wont let you stand there on your own no matter what they tell ya.” Matt depended on Tam Lin’s protection in places such as Matt’s party where he would get shoved around yet with Tam Lin around, he was safe. Tam Lin also taught Matt all his survival skills and helped him survive by himself when Tam Lin was gone. Tam Lin and Matt’s relationship was a two way relationship because Matt treated him as a father-figure and Tam Lin loved him as a friend and protected him from all harm. Tam Lin can be treated as the “defender” of Matt because of his job as Matt’s bodyguard.

10. Changed - Blind Melon 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=974ePdYMz4Q

This song is almost a direct link to Tam Lin’s life, since recently Matt discovered Tam Lin was a terrorist making Matt see Tam Lin in a different light. But, when Matt has the courage to confront Tam Lin and tell him that he knows, Tam Lin goes in to a melancholy state because he took lives that he did not mean to take and he feels sorry about it. This song, I think would directly link to what Tam Lin is thinking and feeling. Changed is all about hoping that you can have a second chance in society and if not, if there is an after life you are allowed in a form as forgiveness. Just like in the song the singer says: As I sit here in this misery, I don’t think I'll ever see the sun from here. This lyric especially stood out to me and I think the away that Tam Lin would see it would be the singer is in exile as he once was and had no hope but just as the last reminisce of hope was leaving, El Patron came to his rescue and took him to a safe place, as a second chance, so he could change.

Chapters 1-9 - Emily

What literary aspect is most interesting to you so far (chapters 1-9). You may want to examine Farmer's setting, characterization, theme development, use of metaphor, figurative language in general, etc. Don't forget to use specific examples and quotations from the novel to support your thinking.

I think the most interesting aspect is how Farmer has developed the characters. Matt has changed so much throughout the book and we keep finding out new and interesting things. He went from not knowing a single thing at all in the very beginning and now he is a smart and interesting character. Matts character has developed so much and i'm sure it will continue to. Other characters have also changed a lot, such as Rosa becoming an eejit. Maria has gone through a lot as well as Tom. 
I find it interesting how Farmer creates the relationships between all of the characters. I find it interesting how Matt is so interested in Maria and she changes her mind so often about her feelings for him. Tom is also intertwined into this relationship, he does mean things to Maria and she never seems to believe that it was Tom who did it. Making Tom usually get away with everything he does no matter how bad it may be. Everything Farmer does with the characters helps to add so much to the book.