==Plot== The story is set in the country of Opium, a narrow strip of land between Aztlán (now called[[Mexico]]), and the [[United States]]. Opium is ruled by Matteo Alacrán, also known as El Patrón, an incredibly powerful drug lord who is 146 years old. The country consists of several [[recreational drug use|drug]]-producing Farms, of which the Alacrán estate (which produces [[opium]] poppies) is the largest. El Patrón's work-force consists of "eejits", humans with computer chips implanted in their brains that render them unable to complete more than simple tasks. These "eejits" act, or cease to act, only when ordered to do so. Depending on the nature of the task, an eejit will continue performing this task until they die, unless told to stop …show more content…
by an overseer. Most of the eejits in El Patrón's control were once [[illegal immigrants]] enslaved by the Farm Patrol after being caught crossing the border of Opium from the United States or Aztlán. The Farm Patrol are a border patrol force of ex-convicts from other countries tempted to work for El Patrón with the offer of protection from the police and judicial system of their home nations. The protagonist, Matt, is a [[Cloning|clone]] of El Patrón.
For the first six years of his life, he lives in a small house on the edge of the poppy fields with Celia, a cook working in El Patrón's mansion. One day, he is discovered by two children (Emilia and Steven). Matt is so overcome by longing for other children his age that he smashes the window and jumps out. Never having experienced pain before, he was unaware of the danger in jumping barefoot onto smashed glass. The children carry him to El Patrón's mansion to be treated for his injuries. The people there treat Matt kindly until Mr. Alacrán, El Patrón's great-grandson, recognizes him as a clone. For the next few months, he is treated as an animal by most of the Alacráns, and is locked into a room filled with sawdust for his "litter". One of the children discovers where he is being kept and informs Celia. El Patrón immediately punishes the maid, Rosa, who was in charge of Matt, gives Matt clothes and his own room, and commands everyone to treat him with respect. Matt is also given a bodyguard, named Tam Lin, a reformed terrorist who becomes a father figure to him. Still, everyone but Celia, María, and Tam Lin look upon Matt with ill-disguised revulsion, only hiding it when El Patrón is …show more content…
around. Matt lives in the Big House for the next seven years. He and María quickly become friends, and friendship gradually blossoms into romance. However, Matt is deliberately kept in the dark by everyone about his identity and purpose until a cruel joke reveals to him that he is a clone. Matt also discovers that all clones are supposed to be injected when "harvested" (born) with a compound that cripples their brains and turns them into little more than thrashing, drooling animals. From then on, he studies and learns the piano with a vengeance, in a state of denial. In his heart, Matt already knows the reason for his existence, yet he convinces himself that El Patrón would not hire tutors for him and go to all the trouble of keeping him entertained if he were intending to kill Matt in the end, and that El Patrón must want Matt to run the country when El Patrón dies. At Steven and Emilia's wedding, El Patrón has a near-fatal [[heart attack]].
Matt and María, who have by this time realized they love each other, attempt to flee in the ensuing chaos but are betrayed by Steven and Emilia. María is taken back to the convent where she studies, and Matt is taken to the Big House's hospital, where El Patrón at last confirms that Matt was created only for the purpose of organ donation to keep El Patrón alive. At that moment, Celia reveals that she has been giving Matt carefully measured doses of [[arsenic]], which, though not large enough to kill Matt, would certainly be fatal to one as frail as El Patrón; El Patrón becomes so enraged that he has another heart attack that is fatal at last. Mr. Alacrán orders Tam Lin to dispose of Matt; Tam Lin pretends to comply, and ties him to a horse and rides away apparently to dispose of him. But instead, he gives Matt supplies and sets him on a path to Aztlán. Arriving in Aztlán, Matt comes across a kind of penal colony for orphans. These orphans are called the "Lost Boys", and Matt is sent to live with them by a group of men known as the "Keepers," who are fervent followers of [[Marxism]]. The Keepers operate plankton farms, forcing the orphans to do manual labor and subsist on plankton. The Keepers enjoy luxurious quarters and delectable food, claiming that this is fair because they "earned" the right to do so by working hard during their
childhood. Matt is at first an outcast because the other boys think he is a spoiled [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrat]]. However, Matt becomes a hero when he defies the Keepers and leads the boys in a rebellion against them. Matt then flees with his three friends among the Lost Boys. They struggle to the nearest city, San Luis, then go to the convent to find María and her mother, the politically powerful Esperanza Mendoza. Esperanza thanks the boys for giving her an excuse to charge the Keepers with drug trafficking: for years, many have known about it, but no one has had sufficient evidence for a search warrant. Matt also learns that Opium is in country-wide lockdown. He manages to re-enter the country, but only to learn that the entire Alacrán family is dead, and the estate is empty except for numerous servants including Celia, Daft Donald, and Mr. Ortega. Tam Lin and everyone at El Patrón's wake drank poisoned wine that El Patrón saved to be served at his funeral. Tam Lin was close to El Patron and knew that the wine had been tainted, but chose to drink it to atone for his past crimes. El Patrón never intended for himself to die and wanted to either run the business forever, or have it and everyone else die with him. Matt, being the new El Patrón, will become the new ruler of Opium but he plans to dismantle the regime.
The novel El Sonador is about a boy that finds beauty and wonder everywhere he goes. Neftali is the type of boy who is really shy and likes to spend most of his time alone reading, writing, and daydreaming. When he grows up, Neftali wants to help others that do not have the power of expressing themselves. His father mocks his dreams because he has already planned his son's future.
In both the movie, La Misma Luna, and the newspaper series, Enrique’s Journey, there is a demonstration of abuse of power. Judicial policemen, immigration officers, and bandits all take part in hurting migrants in various ways. If a migrant is lucky enough to make it across the borders, then they will most certainly have physical and emotional scars. They also have their own story of survival to tell. One of the main messages sent relating to this topic is immigration officers, judicial policemen, and bandits abuse their authority by beating, robbing, and raping vulnerable immigrants in fragile situations.
When Bonnie first spots Matt, he is in disguise and it becomes a critical moment in the book showing how even if Matt looks different she could still determine it was him. Bonnie’s faith led her to keep searching for Matt even if she was not certain it was him. “ The first Mariner’s game of my life, Bonnie thought, and I’m missing the best part, because I’m on a wild-goose chase after a kid with black hair and glasses who looks a little bit like my brother. But she didn’t look back”(Kehert 157). There are also a lot of visionary tactics that are used to capture all of the emotions in this
There is no question that the love Matt had for Frank was the motivation to kill Richard Strout. The story ends with two physical killings and a moral death as well. Vengeance comes at a very high price, death.
Matteo Alacrán is the clone of El Patrón and is the only clone with a brain. El Patrón is the drug lord of a country known as Opium. Opium is a strip of poppy fields found in between the borders of the U.S and what was once known as Mexico. Matt cells split in a petri dish and then placed in the womb of a cow where his cell matured to baby. Matt is considered to be a monster by most people around him, but El Patrón loves because he considers it to be a reflection of himself as matt is derived from El Patrón that matt the scientist has made. He is considered a monster in home town matt struggles to understand his existence. His very existence is threatened by the town and El Patrón power hungry family. Matteo wonders if he will become twisted like El Patrón. El Patrón’s clone is surrounded by thousand of dangerous army bodyguards.
In the book there is no romantic connection between Mattie and La Boeuf. However in the movie when La Boeuf leaves them the second time Mattie and La Boeuf are talking and Mattie does not want him to go. You can see the connection between them and the anger between them disappears. In the book Mattie is always made at La Boeuf and they fight a lot and she thinks he is a dumb Texan and does not trust...
Matt has his own struggles in life to deal with before that though also. Matt Saracen lives with his grandmother who has a bad case of dementia and memory loss. Since Matts father is in the army, he is off fighting in Afghanistan leaving Matt to be the only man around the house and take care of not only his self but everything and everyone else at a very young age to have such responsibilities. Matt Saracen begins football practice and struggles immensely. He looks like the doom and gloom and the end of the Dillon Panthers football team. The whole community and school had no faith in him and is constantly giving him a hard time and causing Saracen to have a big deal of stress to deal with. Saracen even has to start dropping classes just to get more practice for football, so the team didn’t recruit a star football player to come take his playing time. Even though he has a lot on his plate and life seems to be moving full fledge for him he continues to push through and take the cards he has been dealt and make the best out of the situation with hard work and
Although this may be true, others could argue that that Mattie was not forced to grow up quickly. They may argue that Eliza was around which meant Mattie didn’t have a heavy load to carry. This however is false, Eliza was not around the whole time meaning she wasn’t around when Mattie had to take care of her grandfather while they were leaving Philadelphia. She also wasn’t around when Mattie was had to fend off the robbers. When being faced with these facts others may also argue that Mattie’s manners were lacking which meant she didn’t mature enough to keep them in mind. This is also false, Mattie couldn’t have focused on being polite and prim when her life was always in danger. How could she mind her manners while looking for where she could
Matt Alcrán was made in a lab he was injected with special DNA. El patron where matt's DNA came from keeps him on the manor and unseen from the outside world. Matt knows he isn’t normal so he feels he should act different because he can’t fit in. Matt tries to
Matt isn’t considered human by the rest of the society, so he isn’t normally treated like a human. For a long time, the only reason why people cut him more slack than other clones is because of El Patron, the wicked
Levi is fortunate to be able to maintain his emotional health through his friendship with Alberto, who is introduced once Levi is released from the infirmary. Levi describes his best friend as optimistic, “uscathed and uncorrupted” by the circumstances of the horrid situation. Levi goes on about Alberto, “he fights for his life but still remains everybody’s friend… I always saw, and still see in him, the rare figure of the strong yet peace-loving man against whom the weapons of the night are blunted.” Alberto was Levi’s savior, inspiring Levi to stay optimistic. He is Levi’s outlet to confide to and he is Levi’s uplifter. Together they also manage to devise plans to get more rations of bread and improve popularity within the black market and within their block. The reader truly sees the depth of this friendship on Alberto’s last day: As the healthy prisoners were instructed to evacuate, Alberto risks his life by stopping by the Ka-Be to say goodbye to Primo Levi. Levi speaks of Alberto on the last time he saw him, “we were inseparable:... For six months we had shared a bunk and every scrap of food ‘organized’ in excess of the ration.” Levi makes it clear that without this companionship and emotional support to keep him alive, Primo Levi would not have survived the
Matt soon realizes he was living away from El Patron's mansion in secrecy. He is later taken to the mansion and being taken care of a woman named Rosa, a horrible woman who physically abused Matt. El Patron soon found out about his clone's abuse and severely punishes Rosa. Matt soon finds a life of luxury in the mansion and takes advantage of it for many years. After a couple of years, Matt will then have to face donating his organs to El Patron by force, but he escapes. He is then captured by farm patrol, mistaken for an illegal immigrant he is later put to work by force into a water purification plant. He later escapes again back to Opium, only to find out that he is the only person worthy of ruling Opium.
In Jayber Crow Jayber love for Mattie is so strong that he would never tell the way he
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.
Fiction needs to be in the curriculum because it helps the students read and on some occasions which is almost always expands their vocabulary. Then reading fiction books not all of them are fake some of them are based on true events and things that have happened. The issue here is that matt is being ignored because he is a clone and nobody trust’s clones because they are supposedly dangerous. Then the only people that treat him like an actual person is celia, maria, el patron and tamlin. The reason why he is