El Patron in The House of the Scorpion

746 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cloning ethical and moral debate

El Patron in The House of the Scorpion

What if there was a world with clones? There would be a way to live for up to 100 years effortlessly, have easy transplants, and maintain a precise memory. But, the recipient would be taking organs from someone else. "So what", he or she may justify, "they're clones, they are inferior. They don't matter because they are stupid." But what if someone had the power to allow them to be of normal intelligence? He or she might think that he or she is doing the clone a favor, but when the clone is killed for spare parts it's an even worse situation than with a retarded clone. Not for this "bandido" (Farmer 37). El Patron is a cruel, selfish, heartless man who clawed his way to power in his youth and rules people with fear, though he is powerful, he is always nagged by the fact that he may lose everything. There is no way on earth he would let that happen.

El Patron believes he is doing the clones a favor by allowing them to be smart, but in the end he uses them just like all the other clones in the world - for his own personal use. Esperanza, a fierce No Drug activist, once wrote that “a more evil, vicious, and self-serving man (than El Patron) could hardly be imagined” (Farmer 170). Though the practice of murdering clones is widely accepted in the book, it is morally wrong, and most people would at least have second thoughts about killing someone. Even with his dragon hoard, which he just lets sit there untouched and deeply protected, El Patron becomes outraged with even the slightest of a suggestion towards giving anything away. He is so self-centered, in fact, that at his death greed took over and all of the people inhabiting his part of Opium were silenced and added to his hoard.

Power is what El Patron has worked for and what he fears of losing. Unthinkingly describing the drug lord word for word, Tam Lin once said that “Power is a drug, and people like me crave it” (Farmer 243). Though his business is illegal to the rest of the world, he never seems to show any concern about what everyone else’s laws are and he proceeds with what he had planned. Matt and all of the other clones he had created are mere examples of this.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of El Hoyo By Mario Suarez

    465 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Mario Suarez’s essay “El Hoyo” it is mainly about a small section of the city of Tucson. It is the area that has been inhabited by Chicanos. The term chicano is the short way of saying Mexicano. Suarez explains the good and the bad about El Hoyo. He says that he does not understand why people come back to El Hoyo, but there is something unexplainable about it that it does. It is possibly the human kindness of El Hoyo that brings people back.

    Read More

  • Fray Gomez's Scorpion Analysis

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ricardo Palma struck a chord with me as I read his short story, Fray Gomez’s Scorpion. Throughout the text, Palma was—in simple terms—hilarious. The example I will be focusing on comes from Palma’s description of the first miracle performed by Fray Gomez. In just one small section, I can find three instances of unexpected humor coming from the author.

    Read More

  • Higenious Hidalgo Don Quixote De La Mancha Don Quixote

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha Don Quixote takes on many exploits and is often broken and beaten along the way. Whether he is fighting with imaginary giants or the knight of the White Moon, Don Quixote ends up defeated. In City Lights Chaplin’s tramp endeavors to make money in order to help the blind girl. After being fired from his recent job as a street cleaner, the tramp enters into a boxing contest for 50% of the winnings. However, things do not go as planned and the tramp finds himself in a predicament. Still, and similar to Don Quixote’s boldness, the tramp believes there is an actual chance that he could win the match. Instead, he finds himself knocked out and no closer to his goal of helping the blind girl.

    Read More

  • The Prince Of Los Cocuyos Analysis

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the time I spent between the covers of The Prince of Los Cocuyos, I was astounded by Richard Blanco’s dynamic relationship with the novel’s sole “antagonist”: his abuela. It seemed that no matter how many times he was chagrined at her attempts to negotiate the English language, or was forced to repress his very personhood to meet her traditional standards of manhood, she never ceased to be a pillar of support for a young Richard Blanco. But beyond his grandmother, Mr. Blanco made it quite clear that he was surrounded by a pueblo of family and friends throughout his childhood and adolescence, a village that would confound his “becoming” but foster his growth, make him question his identity and yet be intricately connected to it. It

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Therapeutic Cloning

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therapeutic cloning is the process whereby parts of a human body are grown independently from a body from STEM cells collected from embryos for the purpose of using these parts to replace dysfunctional ones in living humans. Therapeutic Cloning is an important contemporary issue as the technology required to conduct Therapeutic Cloning is coming, with cloning having been successfully conducted on Dolly the sheep. This process is controversial as in the process of collecting STEM cells from an embryo, the embryo will be killed. Many groups, institutions and religions see this as completely unacceptable, as they see the embryo as a human life. Whereas other groups believe that this is acceptable as they do not believe that the embryo is a human life, as well as the fact that this process will greatly benefit a large number of people. In this essay I will compare the view of Christianity who are against Therapeutic Cloning with Utilitarianism who are in favour of Therapeutic Cloning.

    Read More

  • Caught In The Organ Draft Analysis

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    If people lived for over a hundred years, they would be no change in the political office. In the story, Caught in the Organ Draft, there is a world where people are drafted to donate their organs to ensure the elders live longer and healthier lives. Since the younger people are forced to donate to the elders, “... We could hope that our crazy old leaders would die off or at least retire for reasons of health, stumbling away to their country villas with ulcers or shingles or scabies or scruples and allowing the new young peacemakers to take office. But now they just go on and on, immortal and insane, our senators, our cabinet members, our generals, our planners” (Silverburg 3). With the cloning of different organs, people may almost become immortal and evil leaders that run countries may never die out. The world may overpopulate and run out of resources to support everyone on Earth. Also, some people may say that cloning is unethical because it messes with the natural body or God’s “will”. In the article, Gayin, the author, proposes an important question, “And if we do attempt human cloning, what will we do with the “debris”, the discarded messes along the line? (Gaylin 224). The “debris” refers to the failed cloning attempts of cloning human body parts. Since they are human parts, would it be murder if we killed them? Many people argue that cloning is unethical because scientists would be obligated kill the messed up clones since nobody has perfected the art of cloning. Also, people argue it’s unethical because scientists are simply messing with the “will” of

    Read More

  • What Is The Theme Of Fear In The House Of The Scorpion

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    The characters have to face many fears in the House of the Scorpion. Keepers feared Matt since they knew nothing about him and he threatens their authority by being recognized as the leader of the Lost Boys. Often times people fear or dislike others that aren 't like them. Matt was not like other people because he was El Patron’s clone. The Alacrans dislike Matt since he 's a clone. They believe Matt is filthy like other clones since they knew nothing about him and is blinded by their prejudice. El Patron put a lot of fear into lots of people. Everyone fears him because he is so powerful. He is lord over the country called Opium--a strip of poppy fields between the U. S. and what was once called Mexico. ”Vampire! thought Matt. El Patron would have enjoyed that description. He loved to inspire fear”(pg.139). Fear helps the reader better understand El Patron and Matt because El Patron puts fear into everyone to gain power and

    Read More

  • The Legend of El Chupacabra

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Legend of the Chupacabra has been around for many years now and is almost becoming more and more believable. There have been plenty of sightings and detailed descriptions of what this beast looks like. Many say it stands at about three feet with big red eyes and has shriveled hairless skin (“National Geographic Society”). Even though there are multiple facts and sightings that could potentially prove that this creature is real, some still do not believe it. There are scientist and researchers that go out everyday to try and find more about this creature, with all this effort being put into this, it is very hard to believe that it is not real. There are many facts out there to prove that it is real, the stories themselves prove it, now it is time to convince everyone why they should believe in this furless beast.

    Read More

  • The Power of Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do.  We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth.  Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn.  When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day.  In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.

    Read More

  • Cloning In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '

    1849 Words  | 4 Pages

    successful clones often have problems with their body and are subject to a short lifespan ridden with health problems. This hurts the person or animal cloned rather than to help them, making cloning an immoral

    Read More

  • Morality of Cloning

    1537 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, it is clear to see that cloning is not the taboo it has been made out to be. It is a new boundary that humanity has never encountered before and so it is understandable that people have qualms about ‘playing God’ by shaping a life. Although some might argue that it is immoral to clone human beings, the truth is that it is unethical not to. Given that such technology has the potential to save millions upon millions of lives, not tapping into that industry would have dire consequences on the future. In this case, the ends more certainly justify the means.

    Read More

  • Matt And El Patron's Character In The House Of The Scorpion

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    A prominent theme in The House of the Scorpion is that genetics do not determine one's character. This applies to many characters, but it is demonstrated most clearly in Matt. He is El Patron's clone; his DNA is the exact same. Scientifically, they could be considered the same person. But Matt is different, because he has different experiences, different values, and makes different choices.

    Read More

  • The Injustice Of Cloning In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    In arguing against cloning, the central debate is derived from the fact that this unnatural process is simply unethical. The alleged

    Read More

  • John Stuart Mill Essay

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... opportunity to save the original, why not? If one of my siblings ever needed a kidney or a bone marrow transfer, I would not hesitate to assist. Who would not save a family member given the opportunity?

    Read More

  • Never Let Me Go Comparative Essay

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kazuo Ishiguro’s critically acclaimed 2005 Novel Never Let Me Go was influenced by cloning and stem cell research in the late 20th century. Many ethical discussions were raised, and Ishiguro displayed his perspective from his about clones that demonstrate the human experience to the core. The story was adapted into a film by the same name in 2010, directed by Mark Romanek. The novel explores plot, setting, character, literary techniques and themes by telling the story of cloned organ donors, forced to die for the good of humanity, all of which are well represented in the film adaptation.

    Read More

More about El Patron in The House of the Scorpion

Open Document