Chapters 1-3

I read 23 pages, chapters 1-3, of The House of the Scorpion.
The beginning of this story was quite interesting, as I felt the need to keep reading and find out what happens next. While I was reading, one situation caught my attention. Towards the bottom of page 21, Rosa says, "We'll have to wait. He's treating your grandfather. At least we can clean the kid up." When she says this, it means she cares enough to try to help Matt. She is treating him like any other person, until on page 23 when the 'Property of the Alacran Estate.'  Upon learning that Matt is a clone, she begins to treat him like he's an animal.

Chapter 1 Summary: This chapter explains how Matt was created. Matt's creator, Eduardo, was pressured to do everything right, because his life depended on it, as well as his wife, father, and children's lives. If he messed anything up while creating Matt, he was to be sent to "the Farms." While we do not know what the Farms is, it must be bad if Eduardo is frightened about being sent there. When a clone is created, the scientists basically "dumb down" the clones' brains, so they won't become too powerful. Just as Eduardo is about to do this to Matt, Lisa, another lab worker, stops him. Eduardo is left to wonder if he just did Matt a favor by keeping his brain the same instead of making him be less intelligent.

Chapter 2  Summary: Part of this chapter is focused on Matt and Celia's relationship. Celia is Matt's caregiver, but she refuses to let him call her "mama" even if he does on accident sometimes. At the beginning of chapter two, Celia is leaving to go to work at the Big House, but Matt doesn't want her to leave.We soon find out that Matt and Celia live in a little shack in the poppy fields a few miles away from the Big House. It is just the two of them living in the small house, so Matt gets lonely when Celia has to go to work. Matt is basically held prisoner in the shack all day long and is never allowed to go outside because Celia tells him it is too dangerous. Being so lonely, Matt gets really excited, almost overwhelmed, when he hears voices in the poppy fields. Part of the chapter is focused on Matt and Celia's relationship. Celia is Matt's caregiver, but she refuses to let him call her "mama" even if he does on accident sometimes.

Chapter 3 Summary: The children that visited Matt in chapter two, Steven and Emilia, come back to the shack and they brought Maria, a little girl about Matt's age. This time he attempts to make conversation with everyone but he's too nervous and anxious. Steven and Emilia start to leave when Matt won't talk, but Maria stays because she doesn't want to go back to the Big House. Trying to get Maria off the ground before dark so the chupacabras won't get to her, Matt breaks his glass window and jumps out without a second thought. He hurts his feet and hands badly along with many cuts, so Steven and Emilia carry him back to Alacran Estates, or the Big House. When they arrive with Matt, Rosa and the other servants are running around trying to help him. During the process of helping Matt get the glass out of his skin,  a man, whom Matt describes as the "large fierce looking man," enters and tells everyone that Matt's a clone. After that, everyone's opinions chnage towards Matt. Rosa begins to treat him like dirt, and she throws him out onto the lawn, before relocating him to a small, confined room.