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.

Chapters 1-9 Haley

So far in the book, I have found Nancy Farmer’s characterization the most interesting literary aspect for me. When she was describing El Patron from Matt’s perspective, “he was extremely thin, with shoulder-length white hair neatly combed beside a face so seamed and wrinkled, it hardly seemed real,” it uniquely provided a vivid image. 

I also think that she developed El Patron even further by describing the Big House, which he lives in. When Matt discovers the secret passageway, it non-purposefully describes what kind of person El Patron is. Not only did El Patron build somewhere where he can spy on people, but it also gives him a place to go where no one knows where he is, showcasing his ‘vampire’ like qualities.

Farmer further expands El Patron’s character by giving him a very selfish personality, which she displays to the reader through El Patron’s storytelling, and constant talk about himself, not about others. 

Casting

Tam Lin (Haley)-

I chose Gerard Butler to portray Tam Lin because of Tam Lin's initial introduction on page 63, "I picked up this lot in Scotland... they were thick-necked and brutal, with flattened noses and scars wandering across their arms and faces. They both had curling, brown hair that grew low upon their foreheads, ruddy faces, and bright blue eyes. When Matt looked into Tam Lin's eyes, he was surprised to see a glint of friendliness." Although Gerard Butler isn't as violent looking and battered as Nancy Farmer describes, he fits the criteria nicely with his Scottish heritage, slightly curly brown hair, and friendly-looking blue eyes. 

El Patron (Bryden)-

http://innovationnation.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/old-man-in-sombrero.jpg?w=497&h=279

I think that El Patron looks like this because in the book, they describe him as an old and frail man, who is also very skinny and small because of the deterioration of his 148-year-old body.  I think he looks like this because on page 54, when Matt first meets El Patron, it says, "Matt saw that what he'd taken for an empty armchair actually contained a man. He was extremely thin, with shoulder length white hair neatly combed beside a face so seamed and wrinkled, it hardly seemed real." I think that the closest representation of this would be this man because of his white moustache, skinny figure, and his wrinkled skin.

Matt (Tyler)-

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikk2M4m1E3nvnDsFXxzwEIn4ZDZgYAwWinVwPMEej4pPKS0kfa8awQqQ1mS0ZAFel1Hy7I9zSv3KYf9DsjNzUhPcBVBUgpbGgv_jZl8WR2UfDt_dKnAqXCxGKGBJGQkcSQFWnQmTfdNV5m/s200/Matt.jpg

I think Matt looks this way because in chapter 2 on page 5, Farmer says that he is almost six and has wild bushy hair. Also in chapter two on page 9 when first spotted by Steven, Emilia first described him and then tried to contact him. They say that "he is a little tall for his age and has long hair" but I think Farmer purposely didn't describe Matt very much to leave it to the reader to decide what Matt looked like to them.  I think an actor that can play Matt as young boy is the picture on the bottom, and we created a face matching what we think Matt will look like when he is older. 

Tom (Emily)-

 The description of Tom at the bottom of page 44 in the book is, "He was a boy somewhat older than himself, with bristly red hair and freckles." I think Nolan Gould (picture above) looks how I pictured Tom looking in the novel. Nolan Gould has red hair and a few freckles on his face. In this picture he isn't too old or too young to be Tom considering the age of Tom changes quite a bit throughout the book. I think Nolan Gould is a good person to play Tom because I think they look similar and his age matches pretty well.

Chapter 1-5 Tyler

The first chapter of The House of the Scorpion was quite short, as expected, but served its purpose in the fact that it set the scene and provided background information about Matt and how he came to be. In the next chapter, Farmer describes Matt as a small child that's life is viewed differently from being a genetic success to a very sheltered boy. He is being taken care of by someone that he loves dearly but Matt has no idea of what she really does. In the third chapter, Matt meets some mysterious kids around his house and wants to meet them, so he breaks the glass window and jumps out, getting sliced up by the broken glass in the process. Chapter four is about him becoming some-what friends with Maria, one of the kids that he met by his house and how he realizes how sheltered he has been. I think that the some-what friendship between Matt and Maria will blossom in to a very strong friendship that will take them in to places that they never dreamed of going.

Roundtable Discussion #1 (Preamble)

Roundtable Discussion #2 (setting)

Chapter 1-5 - Bryden

• This novel has definitely gripped onto me, making me want to read it ever so much. During the first few chapters, I wondered what the relationship was for Matt and Celia but after I read chapter 5 where the author reveals Matt is a clone, I understood that Celia's character was created to raise Matt. I assume she is raising Matt to a certain age and then handing him over to someone else because in chapter 2, Celia said that she "loans" Matt, meaning that she will have to give him back later. I also wondered where the "other kids" such as Maria, Steven, and Emilia came from. In the book, when Celia was explaining the big house to Matt, she talked about the 3 children, Emilia, Steven, and Maria. Celia talked about how Stephen lives in the big house, but Maria and Emilia don't and came from elsewhere. I'm also very confused as to why Matt was even created, I wonder what his purpose in this story is.
• I was struck by the compassion and love that Celia has for Matt because I was listening to my classmates talk about how mean she was before I started reading, making me already assuming she was a villainous character, which in fact she is the opposite. It is obvious that Matt is around six-years-old because of his crying and such. 
• I think that Farmer is making the choices in the first section like so, because she wants to create a stronger setting and also attach the audience to the characters Matt, Celia, and Maria. So far, Farmer has done just that and created a powerful atmosphere which leaves me perplexed and curious and we all know, curiosity killed the cat. 

Chapter 1-5 - Emily

• What are you wondering about? 
• I was left wondering about what's going to happen to Matt now that Celia has found him. At first, I was confused about why Celia locked him in the house at the beginning, but in the end I understood. I'm also wondering what's going to happen with Maria and Matt because of how Maria was sent away when she was caught visiting Matt. I'm also interested to see what happens when El Partron is introduced and to see his relationship with Matt.  There was a lot going on in this section and I'm excited to read more and figure out how everything will play out. 
• Has anything struck you about this section? 
• This chapter was really interesting, in the beginning I didn't like Celia because I thought it was harsh that she was hiding Matt from the outside world. Later on, we found out that she was protecting him from being hurt and captured.  I also found it interesting that Maria was so interested to know and talk to Matt, when the other kids want to leave him alone. This section was really interesting with a lot happening leaving me excited to read more!
• Why is Farmer making the choices that she is in this first section?
• I think Nancy Farmer made these decisions to create lots of relationships for Matt to have. In the first section Matt has a lot of different relationships with different characters. He has a relationship with Celia that's very mother-son like, even though they are not related. Maria and Matt have an awkward friendship, it's like they want to be friends but can't. Matt and Rosa don't have a good relationship, Rosa is mean to Matt because he is a clone.