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.

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.

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. 

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.

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 - 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.