Stephanie's Discussion #6: Main Character Comparison

Matt and Vincent may be from two different storylines, but they have a lot in common. In both Matt’s and Vincent’s world you are what you are when you are born or in some cases genetically made. In Matt’s world, power means everything. It is a hot and dry place with fields of blindingly white flowers in every direction. Whereas in Vincent’s world, DNA means everything. It’s in a city type environment with what seems to be a si-fi theme. It seems like these two characters are discriminated from the population of the people. Matt is a person who was altered from another person’s cell and Vincent was weak in society because he wasn’t altered and ended up with a heart condition. Most people look down on Matt and Vincent because of these defects and treat them differently because of how their societies portray them. In these two different societies you have to be perfect and not have a single fault. Perfect people get to go to Gattaca in Gattaca and perfect people live a happy, wealthy life in The House of the Scorpion. These two storylines have one main theme, this is the theme of DNA. They seem to be set in a futuristic time period. I wonder if this is major theme between not only these two stories but between many other stories?

Main Character Comparison Jamie

Matt and Vincent are very similar characters.  I think that Matt has always struggled with his identity and so has Vincent.  In several ways, these two main characters are remarkably similar.  Although they live in different worlds completely, I think there's an overall message of identity.  Matt has gone through so much at such a young age.  While there really is no physical difference between him and a person who is not a clone, he is different.  He carries with him a stereotype of not being worth it.  Vincent has struggled with his identity as well.  He was not genetically altered before birth, unlike his older brother.  He has a higher risk of heart disease because of this.  Although there is a chance he won't have a heart problem, it doesn't matter.  It's been decided that he's unfit for his dream.  One difference I do see between the two is that Matt is incapable of even having huge dreams because he is in constant danger.  Vincent, on the other hand, has one dream he focuses on completely.  He is blinded by his desire to go into space.  However, anything Matt and Vincent want to do, they have to do twice as well to be considered half as good.  This is their lifestyle and neither wants to accept it.  In one scene we see Vincent's parents telling him to eat.  While a harmless gesture, it triggers something in Vincent.  He wants to study the planets.  To him, it's an attack at his heart problems.  It bothers him that it's been accepted that he has heart problems, even though he really might have no heart problem at all.  In the movie, Vincent has decided to change his circumstances and in "House of the Scorpion" Matt has decided to do so as well.  I think what makes these characters so relatable is the theme of their lives is the same, that you don't have to be a victim of your circumstances.              

Jordans Individual Post #5

• We are going to be comparing Matt to Vincent. Now the first thing that really slapped me upside the head was the difference between what is seen as normal in the different societies. In Gattaca being genetically modified is seen as normal and makes you more likely to succeed. But in the Scorpion house, being a clone is seen as a horrifying thing. Almost as though it is a disease to them instead of a blessing. I noticed this as it was quite prominent in both story lines. Because Matt is a clone he is seen as a lesser and is treated so. But because Vincent is not a genetic baby he is seen as a lesser and therefore not allowed into Gattaca.This I found odd because while we are supposed to be looking for similarities in between the two stories when the biggest thing in common is something that is exact opposites. The way society views messing with genes is very different. But yet the topic is so similar even though the stories are different. The other thing is how both people have to pretend to be someone else, Vincent pretends to be Jerome, and Matt runs to the orphanage and pretends his parents were taken. It was really the most important thing that struck me was how these people never can be accepted as they are both seen as lower class due to their genetics. Matt because he is a clone and Vincent because he is conceived the normal way and can never be better then others. So really their greatest similarity is the thing that is the most different from each other.

Jordan Individual Post #4

This book is really interesting to some extent. I have really enjoyed the progression of Matt along with some other characters. To me he is a really interesting character because he threw out the book he goes from believing he is a normal boy, to being treated just above an animal, and then back to becoming an almost a normal boy. He has really showed us that the worlds opinion no longer matters to him even though he knows he can never really be treated the same way because he is a clone. The most interesting thing I ever noticed about Matt was that he knows what is wrong with El Patron and how he is a cruel and demonic person, but yet deep down he loves him. This to me was really odd but also quite interesting because Matt knows that El Patron is an evil person whom is using the market of Opium and slaves toake him richer and richer. Another point to this was how different Matt and El Patron are even though he is an exact clone. Matt is a caring person whom although he is a clone still generally feels for the people whom are "eejits". People like Rosa who treated him so cruelly yet he still wants to try to help her. This really shows a lot about Matt and to me it really showed that he is nothing at all like El Patron. I think this really shows that Matt is an incredible character that has a very odd personality.

Free Write Blog Post #4 Jamie

So far, in chapters 1-25, this novel is interesting.  It's starting to pick up pace, and I found Matt's

development the most interesting.  It reminds me of a song by Pearl Jam, "Amongst the waves", because

of one line in particular.  "Suddenly the channel changed, the first time you saw blood."  While Matt 


hasn't seen a physical war, he's realizing what the Opium Empire is doing to humanity.  Certain characters 


in the novel have proved to be inhumane, and I would go as far as to say, unknowingly evil.  I don't mean


 that they don't understand what they're doing is wrong, but that it's programmed into their brains as


 nothing more than a routine.  It's programmed into their minds.  These "eejits" were people at one time.


  Matt hasn't even seen evil, he's been completely oblivious to the Opium Empire that, as a kid, was right 


outside his window.  Being raised as a good kid, he has a hard time defying El Patron in order to ensure


 the right thing is being done.  The second he sees the inhumane treatment of these 'eejits', he knows it's 


wrong.  However, it shows the power of dictatorship, and how hard it is to defy a powerful leader.  I 


would even relate this to World War II.  Hitler was a powerful leader, and though many knew what he


was doing was wrong, they couldn't defy him.  He was only one person, but because of the mind games,


 the tricks he played, not one of them could stop him.  I think Matt has realized that the price of protection


from El Patron might just come at a deadly cost.    

Jordan's Individual Post #3

Personally human trafficking and illegal immigration has never been something that has directly affected me until now.


When I heard Celia’s story in the book I really realized that this is happening to people. People of any age and gender are


being promised to be allowed to move to a new country and have a better life. When really they are being sent to complete


different countries in boxes and being forced to do god knows what. This issue really hit me up side the head that some one 


was having a better life promised to them and being sent to a worse one. When researching this topic I found an article that


was talking about how the United states is finally taking action in this and putting a stop to it. This article really made me


happy because so many of the other articles I looked at simply stated that this was the illegals fault, they put their trust in 


Coyotes and illegal immigrant personal. I found this almost repulsive because they are saying the fact that they have


dreams to move to a better life, is their fault? I didn’t think so, so I kept looking and found this article which made much more sense to me. This was an article about a political debate in which the were saying that any one working or helping


out with human trafficking would be immediately prosecuted and sent to jail. This was amazing to me because this 


meant there was a room full of politicians saying that this would not be tolerated. I think this really related because in the


book Maria said “He promised us safety and a better life, we were sent off with all of our belongings, but to nothing like 


he promised” (Farmer 140-143). This was a part of Celia's story in which she is talking about the Coyotes who promised


her and a few other villagers just before being sent to El Patron. This article really relates to that exact sentence to me 


because the article is saying these people are being promised something and then having it ripped away from them and 


they have no control of it They cant stop where they are sent because they are originally being promised to be sent to the


States not a possible drug farm like Celia...

http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/15/human-trafficking-a-national-security-issue-obama-task-force-told/

Jamie's Individual Blog Post #3

The House of the Scorpion novel by Nancy Farmer has several aspects, many of which relate to our grade 9 studies this year.  The one in the forefront of my mind during this novel is immigration- specifically of the illegal type.  The first thing that hit my mind was the slave trade, and how "slaves" used to go underground to get to other countries illegally.  However it took a lot of thought to make the connection to  the current date.  After a lot of thought I realized it happens all the time.  Unfortunately it's portrayed so negatively in the media, it's hard to see other perspectives on the issue.  In fact, in Canada there has been a recent incident of immigration illegally.  The case can be found at "http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/news/canadian_news/2012/03/12/3374.html"  and talks about a man 'organizing entry' into Canada.  The problem I see with articles in the news about illegal immigration is that they fail to see a different side to it.  They use words like "smuggling", which are intended to change our opinions.  The fact is, nobody (in their right mind) wants to just willingly be smuggled illegally into a different country if their home country is perfectly normal.  We are all human, and this is something the media never quite grasps.  They are not "aliens," nor are they "evil," they are simply people trying to get through.  In the book, Celia tells her story and refers to the smugglers as "coyotes" (Farmer 142).  They have to be secret, because our government refuses to see people in need of help from persecution in their home countries sometimes.  These are people risking their lives to come to our country, shouldn't we be flattered?  Understandably, there is an issue of space.  This leads me to believe that the government isn't evil, just concerned about their people's needs.  My only problem with this is that they focus on our wants more than our needs.