Ryan's fourth blog post

So far I haven't really cared too much for the book but its not as bad as I first thought at the beginning. The beginning really started out too slow in my opinion and I found it hard to get into. I absolutely hate books that start off with slow or stupid beginning which this book had elements of both. After the chapter "El Patron" (Farmer 52) It started to slightly pick up but I still found it boring. So far I'm just hoping to get to the ending soon because its really just becoming a hassle to read now. I actually love the actual idea behind the story but the way Farmer wrote it is, how can I say this, awful? It really is not a very interesting book and it could've been a much better book if it had a slightly faster pace and also some chapters of the book are just boring like the first 4 chapters, sure they're important but they're make me want my mind to imploded. Those are my thoughts so far on this book.

Casey Blog 4

I think that the book is kind of slow up to this point. So far there has been a lot of events but none have been overly exciting. The most action that has happened is the part where El Patron gets sick and Matt has to be hidden by Maria in chapter 22 and then into chapter 24 where Matt has to leave so that he isn't killed. The first few chapters where Matt is in, "The little red house in the poppy fields," (Farmer 5) is the most boring part of the book as Matt is alone and nothing good happens whatsoever. It's a horrible way to start a book because there is nothing intriguing to hold your interest, quite honesty if I were not forced to continue reading I would have stopped because of how boring it was. The book did get gradually more exciting as I have previously stated, although it has never really taken off. I'm still hoping for some exciting events to happen in, "The New Life."(Farmer Table of Contents) Hopefully the new life means a new life for the story or any life really. Now that Matt is under the fake identity of, "Matt Ortega," (farmer 260) and a fake identity, things might be able to get interesting if people find out who he really is. With a new setting, name, identity and goal, I am hoping that one of those things will spark excitement in the pages of the novel to come.

Casey Blog 3

http://www.chron.com/news/article/32-illegal-immigrants-found-in-Texas-stash-house-3410250.php

Why would someone risk their life to escape their home? To me the sad reality of why someone would risk their life to illegally escape to another country is because where there are, their life is not worth living. The way I see it, people will take the risk of death because they would rather die trying to escape then live a horrible where they are. With brutal living conditions, intense labour and nothing to provide happiness of any means, escape with the risk of death is high is more appealing than living in the conditions you are in. If they succeed without being caught then it was worth it and if not Im sure many are happier than if they had never tried. I think that it is sad that death has to be more appealing than living in the conditions that some have live in. It is especially sad that to the people caught living in the house decried in the article, living in the conditions that they were living in when in the stash house were better than in Mexico. No electricity or furnishings and 32 people sounds like a horrible place to be in, so if that was better than life in their countries, I can't imagine what they had to live in before. I understand the Government not accepting these people and deporting them, but when they see how these people are living they must feel some emotion for these people especially after seeing how they were living once they got to America.

Ryan's Third Blog Post

The real life equivalent of the Farm Patrol in my opinion would be the border patrol along the Mexican/U.S. border. Bother patrol along their designated area's and make sure no people try to cross the border illegally. But the question is, why would you even try to cross the border? My guess is mainly to find a better life. Its just like in the book, when Celia is explaining her past, she seems to go on about how much better she heard life was in the U.S. then it was in Aztlan. The same applies in current times where the U.S. has a much better quality of life than Mexico which is basically Aztlan's equivalent. Most people don't illegally move to U.S. for no reason, the main reason is for a better life or to get back to family. Here is an article on American's and Mexican's illegally immigrating to either Mexico (American's) or the U.S. (Mexicans). Border hopping article

Round Table #3

Here's the link to our third round table on Soundcloud: Round Table #3

Felicia's Play List

1.Rainbow Eyes (Rainbow)

“Marriage doesn’t mean much to this crowd. Felicia ran off with m
MacGregor, oh years ago.” (Farmer 124) The song Rainbow eyes is about love not being real. The line in the song, “All the lights have died somehow or where they ever there?” metaphorically describes the lights as love and it questions if the love was ever really there. This is what it was like between Felicia and Mr.Alacran as Felicia ran off with MacGregor and when she returned there was no love between her and Mr.Alacran at all and then the question as to whether there ever really was love comes up. That question came up especially when we find out that El Patron makes many marriages for the people as we found out with Emilia and Steven.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rainbow/rainbow+eyes_20113614.html

2.Witchy Woman (Eagles) (she is evil like a witch)
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eagles/witchywoman.html
This song is describing what Felicia really is, a witchy woman. She may seem to everyone like such a nice person at the start but soon it is revealed that she is truly evil person who only wants to hurt other people. We find this out when she admits to killing furball, “But I had to be satisfied with... that filthy, slavering rat Maria called a dog.” (Farmer Page 163) (Note: Earlier she had said she wanted to kill Matt) Which shows just how evil she really is.
3. Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Bach and Tokowski) (personality)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnEI22XlxhY
This song is in a minor key so it is dark sounding. It has intense dark orchestra music to start and continues until there are little phrases of major flute sounds in between. This is like Felicia’s personality and appearance as well as her musical side being a classical song. This song is drk and intense like Felicia is, although in the middle of it there are short bursts of major phrases. These phrases would remind someone of a little harmless birds or a harmless frail old lady like Felicia. Then the song goes right back into a dark sound like the person behind the harmless face. The going back and forth of major to minor is a good representation of Felicia’s outer and inner traits which are very what you could call, “major and minor.”

4. Piano Sonata No. 16 (Mozart)

“Line about concert piano” Most likely she would have been a classical player and because she was a concert pianist she would have been able to play a complicated piece like this one. Not only does this song relate to her because of her past with the piano but it also relates to her as a person. The song is very major and happy sounding like Felicia seems to be when playing the piano. When she played the piano she would have seemed harmless as her fingers wold have moved so gracefully and the music would be so nice sounding. This would give people the impression that she has those qualities as a person, although they are only really present when she was playing the piano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXIu0MRuIQU&feature=related

5. 4 Seasons (Vivaldi)

The four seasons really are a great description of Felicia in a musical nutshell. Let’s start with Fall/Autumn. Fall is a season where everything is dying, dried out and frail. This is very much like Felicia from the outside. She is old and frail and she tires out quickly. She is nearing death much like the plants are in the Fall. The musical piece winter is very dark and minor sounding much like Felicia’s personality. Inside, she is an evil woman full of wrath and evil ideas and devilish thoughts much like the sound of the piece, “Winter,” has the feel of. Spring and summer are similar when it comes to Felicia. Both musical pieces are very major sounding and both seasons are happy times of growth and prosperity. In relation to Felicia, these are like the piano piece at #4 in our set list where the happiness about Felicia is related to her beautiful piano playing. The last aspect that makes these fit Felicia is that they are both classical pieces and she was a concert pianist that would have played classical pieces.

6.Diary of a Madman (Ozz)

This entire song fits Felicia very well. First off, it is very classically based as it is based off of a Mozart piece and keeps a very classical feel to it the whole way through. Although it is classically based, it is extremely dark sounding with an extremely dark theme and lyrics all of which fit Felicia’s personality. She is a dark and evil person that has done many bad things in her life and is now trapped inside of a body that she can’t escape but is still conscious like the character described in the song. If you listen to the song it has the darkest sound that would make someone who only new life by the book, The House of the Scorpion, they would think that the song was written about Felicia.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/o/ozzy+osbourne/diary+of+a+madman_10198312.html

7. Evil Woman (Black Sabbath)
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+sabbath/evil+woman_20333660.html
Evil Woman, what else needs to be said about Felicia. She is an evil person in every way. “She ran off with MacGregor, oh years ago.”(Farmer 124) “I wanted to kill that abomination that El Patron keeps at his heels.” (Farmer163) She is an evil woman like the songs title states. The line in the song, “Do you wish that you could see me dead?” really describes what Matt is feeling towards Felicia. She hates Matt and wants him dead and will do anything to get him in trouble as we saw when she killed Furball and got Matt framed and when she sent Matt to see MacGregors clone. Everything that we have seen so far in the novel rightfully gives Felicia the title of and Evil Woman.

8. Cold as Ice (Foreigner)
Cold as Ice, is there a better description of Felicia? Her whole soul is cold as ice and she seems to care about nothing but herself. All she wanted to do was kill Matt but since the only thing she could get away with was killing Furball and she didn’t seem to feel remorse for doing that. She may seem like a kind fragile woman to most people, but later in the book, Matt and Maria find out who she really is, a cold hearted evil person. Also the one set of lyrics in this song “Willing to sacrifice our love” explains the fact that she pretty much abandoned her husband and children to have an affair with one of the other Farmers, MacGregor.


9. Maniac (Kid Cudi)
Just the title of this song explains how bad Felicia really is. She truly is a maniac in the way how she can be so cold and do things without caring what other people will feel. When she killed Furball, it seemed like she enjoyed doing it and was happy that the dog had died. Only a maniac could do something like that and not feel anything. When it is talking about loving the darkness in the song, maybe it could be link to the part where she goes into the dark security room and spys on the people in the house, which is kind of weird.


10. Trouble (Quiet Riot)
http://www.lyricstime.com/quiet-riot-trouble-lyrics.html This song describes what Felicia does to Matt; getting him in trouble as well as when it says, “Well I you rot, I'm gonna tell the devil about you,”  describe Matt's feeling for Felicia. "I had to be satisfied with that..... filthy, slavering rat that Maria called a dog," stated Felicia when she admitted to killing the dog that Matt got in trouble for. The chorus, "Im in trouble," would reflect what Matt must have been feeling when he was framed by Felicia.

Character Casting

Tom
"It was a boy somewhat older than himself with bristly red hair and freckles." (Farmer 44)"Tom is Benito times ten! He can melt anyone’s heart with those wide innocent eyes . Everyone falls for it, but not me." (Farmer 44) (earlier in text it said Benito is a real devil)

This picture to us seems to accurately represent Tom from the book. On the outside it says that he seems like a sweet little boy but on the part that you can't see he is an evil little child who wants to hurt everyone around them by playing cruel and unusual pranks on them. Also this picture accurately matches the description of Tom's physical appearance.







"He was extremely thin, with shoulder length white hair neatly combed beside a face so seemed and wrinkled, it hardly seemed real." (Farmer 54)

Based on the brief description of El Patron we get in the beginning of the book, we think that this is what El Patron would look like. He is described as an old man with long white hair and a wrinkled face which is what this picture shows. This picture looks as if the man is an old wise person which is what El Patron is sort of portrayed as. Being as El Patron over 140 years old, he is sure to be a wise old man with much knowledge which is kind of what this man looks like. That is why we chose this picture.









Tam Lin
"Tam Lin’s ears appeared chewed, they were so misshapen.Anyone less playful could hardly be imagined." (Farmer 63) "They were thick-necked and brutal, with flattened noses and scars wandering across their arms and faces." (Farmer 63)

We picked this picture for Tam Lin because it is what we picture him as. This man looks like the kind of person who would be a huge tough bodyguard just like Tam Lin is in the book. This man looks like a thick necked brutal person who doesn't mess around with protection. He looks like the type of serious person that just gives off the bodyguard vibe.

Celia
We picked this picture because it is what we picture Celia to look like. It matches the text support we found as this woman has black hair and olive skin just like Celia is said to have."She had black hair and olive skin like Celia." (Farmer 9) In this photo the woman appears to be working in a kitchen, "...and she fell asleep easily after long hours cooking in the big house." It also appears that she is wearing what seems to be a maids uniform,"Thats Celia's place," said a maid. "She's too stuck up to live with the rest of us."(Farmer 21) This quote implies that Celia is a maid as the maid said that she won't live with the rest of them therefore including her in the group of maids.

Ryan's Second Blog Post

So far the most interesting literary aspect of Farmers book is by far the setting. I think her choice of setting makes the book a better read. The idea that one man has become so powerful that he is able to practically own his own country is amazing. My favourite part though, is where she describes the house where he eventually lives. "They started up a flight of wide, marble steps that shone softly in the darkening air. On either side were orange trees, and all at once lamps went on among the the leaves. Lights outlined the white walls of a vast house above, with pillars and statues and doorways going who knew where. In the centre of an arch was the carved outline of a scorpion." I think that this detail really helps me visualize the story. Throughout the who book so far, if the story goes into a new location, it is described in detail that is easily visualized. I hope that the rest of this book is as good as the first nine chapters.

Ryan

Casey Blog Post #2

So far while reading this novel the most interesting thing to me is the change of setting for the protagonist, Matt. I have found that the setting changes are really the force that leads Matt's development as a character. He starts in a nice small house all alone where he doesn't know any different. In this setting he is curious and Farmer describes him to be very chatty when Celia is home as well as to things like stuffed animals. In this setting he is happy and wants to learn and interact with people. He wanted to interact with others very badly and this is shown when the other kids come the second time and instead of hiding like he is told to, he makes sure to interact even though he is scared. As the book moves forward he is locked in a room all alone and eventually lives in sawdust. Once he is in this setting he stops talking for what is eventually described as months. Here he lives in his own kingdom and won't even talk to Celia when she finds him. He is angry and doesn't like anyone while in this setting. Once Matt moved into his house with a bodyguard, he is treaty very well and starts to talk again. He becomes curious again and wants to learn, partly to become accepted by others but also because he is once again like he was before. I'm going to continue watch to see how Matt changes as the setting and environment that he is in changes and see if this pattern of him changing as his setting changes continues to be prevalent.

Casey's First Post

Throughout reading this section of the novel many things started to come into my head. I was wondering if  Matt would ever be treated fairly or if he would be hidden in his sawdust filled room. I found out later on that he would finally be set free from his misery and that he would be treated properly as someone should be treated. The other huge question that was looming in my head and that still is looming in my head, is if Rosa will be punished; what will happen to Rosa now that El Patron has found out what she did to his clone. Although it ways that she is dragged out of the room, I am not sure what will happen and I hope that they will tell in the book wether she will be reprimanded for her actions. If she is not then another question comes to mind and that question is, once El Patron leaves, will Matt be put back in his sawdust filled room, go back to Celia's house or will he be treated like royalty because he is El Patrons clone and EL Patron is so highly regarded.

The main part of this section that struck me was the part where he was treated poorly because he was a clone. It seemed like the author may have made the decision to possibly create a similarity to real life and racism. It seems that clones are like certain races and are treated badly because of this reason. I think that this shows how he has to live differently because of something that he couldn't control similarly to how things happen in the real world today. I think that Farmer made good decisions when laying out the book the book the way she did. When she included how he was treated, developed and acted in the different settings it seemed like a good choice as it shows how he changes as a person based on the setting and environment that he is in. This may play a large role in the novel as it progresses as it could lead to him making unexpected decisions in the future because of how he changes in different environments. These decisions may be surprising unless you realize that these things have been around the whole time. For example, he is outgoing and talkative in his house with Celia and wants to tell stories to her all of the time whereas when he went to room where he was alone, he stopped talking or communicating with anyone that he loved or cared about. Things like this may happen in the future and if they do then Farmers choices will help me understand those parts and decisions better.

First Blog Entry

I am wondering where Matt will end up after seeing Celia again and also what will happen with the children who found Matt. Some of the other things that make me have questions is who owns the house that Matt is being kept captive in and where it is located in the world as throughout the book it says that there are poppy fields nearby. Not only that, but also what time period the book is set in as that would be a major fact to know. The only clues we have about these questions is from the blurb on the back of the book which says that this story takes place in the country of Opium which is located between the U.S.A. and what was formerly Mexico. The last part indicates that it must be the future because Mexico still exists in present time.
Some things that have struck me in this section is the fact that they treat this clone like he's some kind of animal. In my opinion, if I could meet a clone I would be amazed rather than disgusted, but then again, in this story clones might be an everyday type of thing and they might be disgusting but who knows? Also the fact of how they kept him locked up in a room filled up with sawdust and almost no food was really heartbreaking. Most animals don't even have that bad of conditions which shows just how low the think of clones in this book.
Finally why I think Farmer made these choices in this section is basically to show how the world in this book works. In the section it introduces the characters and also introduces the basic setting of the country of Opium. It seems like the story takes place on someones huge poppy farm and this someone remains mostly unnamed for the whole first section of the book. In my opinion it seems like it will be an interesting read and I hope it turns out to be a great book.

Ryan

Second Round Table Discussion on The House of the Scorpion

This is our second round table discussion for this project.