In opposition to the earlier blogging groups who talked about the differences between House of the Scorpion and the other science fiction novels we’ve been reading this semester, I’m talking about the similarities therein.
The most prominent factor to be considered is the humanizing of something “inhuman” and the dehumanization everyone else. In House of the Scorpion, clones (of which Matteo is one) are generally regarded as lower than the dirtiest animal. When it is revealed that Matteo is a clone, all of the children turn on him in an instant (except Maria, but that’s a different story). When readers compare the content of Matt’s character against the “pure” humans like Tom and Rosa, the absolute contrast is is just jarring.
We saw this theme resurging in Bladerunner where the Replicant, Roy Batty, shows more ‘humanity’ and zeal for life than his human counterpart Deckard (I stand by that Deckard is a human). The theme returns in We3 as the weapons themselves have more redeeming qualities (loyalty to each other, etc.) than the human characters, who sometimes don’t even merit eyes. And even in Frankenstein we see a macabre assembly of dead flesh given life has more culture and eloquence than Viktor Frankenstein, who is madness and melancholy.