69 pages • 2 hours read
The House of the Scorpion
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
Symbols & Motifs
Scorpions
Alacrán, or scorpion, was the name given to the residents of the town in which El Patrón lived in poverty long ago. The people were given the nickname due to the fact that Mexico was crowded with as many people as scorpions, equating humans to animals. As an homage to the nickname, El Patrón made the name his own and started the Alacrán family. Just as Alacrán literally means scorpion, the Alacrán family emblem is also a literal scorpion. Celia often compares the family’s moral state to that of a vicious scorpion. The emblem itself symbolizes El Patrón and his family’s cruel, poisonous, backstabbing nature. Each member of the Alacrán family proves to be backstabbing and cruel in one way or the other, literally signifying the family’s connection to the poisonous scorpion. The Alacrán family ironically treats Matt as an animal when their own family is named after and equated to an abhorrent creature. The physical scorpion emblems that respond only to El Patrón’s DNA signature create a link between Matt and El Patrón. However, Matt rejects the scorpion-like identity that he could have easily inherited from El Patrón’s DNA and chooses to be a kind, moral, and caring person.
The Virgin of Guadalupe
Celia fills Matt’s childhood with stories of the Virgin of Guadalupe to form his moral compass. Whereas the church and international law do not believe clones to have souls, Celia’s insistent religious education signifies that even as a clone, Matt can have a moral compass. Both the statue and Matt’s repeated reference to and thoughts about the Virgin serve as a motif for his potential for kindness and morality. When Matt is imprisoned as a young child, he believes that the dove that visits him is a sign from the Virgin that hope is not lost. After hurling a rotten orange at Tom, he feels remorseful when he remembers that the Virgin likes gentle and kind behavior. Matt’s connection to the Virgin provides a source of inspiration to choose good over the darker impulses that he has inherited from El Patrón. At the same time, the prominence of the Virgin in Matt’s life is ironic—her birth to Jesus is just as miraculous as Matt’s birth as a clone. In addition, the fact that Celia brought the statue of the Virgin with her from Aztlán before becoming El Patrón’s property signifies the hope and morality she brought with her into the evil world of Opium.
The Day of the Dead
When Matt finally arrives in San Luis, he is met with the celebrations of a festival of the dead. Throughout his life, Matt has only seen El Patrón’s greedy clinging to life and desire for immortality. El Patrón has avoided death at all costs, growing and harvesting clones for implants and making the arrangements to take his empire with him to his grave. The concept of celebrating the dead is foreign to Matt given his experiences around death. However, the festival serves as a symbol of the concept of death. Those who have a deep connection to religion, such as El Patrón’s grandson El Viejo, are thankful for the lives they are given and do not argue when their time is over. As Consuela elaborates to Matt, death is a part of them all, and they must embrace it. Matt has always pictured death as a way to leave the world, and considering the belief that clones don’t have souls, he wonders what death would mean for him. In contrast, the festival welcomes the dead to visit their families, eat their favorite foods, and visit home. The celebration insists that the dead remain connected to those alive and that they are never truly gone. It also encourages embracing the natural course of life rather than unethically exploiting scientific innovations, such as clones for the purpose of harvesting organs.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events