The House of the Scorpion - Post Reading

“When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other.”  This is a quote from the book, “The House of the Scorpion”.  This quote was said when Tam Lin, one of the characters, was talking about El Patron, the most important person in Opium. Opium is a land ruled by extremely rich patriarchs who own enormous opium farms. It lies between the United States and Mexico.

Tam Lin said that El Patron decided how he was going to behave when he was young, like a tree deciding to grow a certain way. He said that El Patron is a tree towering over all the others, but that he is twisted. This means that, however powerful he is, he is evil, cunning, and should not be trusted.

“He sacrificed many things on the road to power,” is a quote which I remember from the movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. While this quote was talking about someone sacrificing things dear to them, the quote from “The House of the Scorpion” has a different meaning. El Patron sacrificed many things, but they were not dear to him. He is ruthless: people’s lives don’t matter to him. He sacrificed his reputation for truthfulness and his honor, however. People know him for being powerful, but they also know him for being evil and ruthless.

This quote can apply in our lives, though not as visibly. People make decisions that change who they are, though they are obviously not in the position of El Patron. If you make a decision to skip class, for example, you might get away with it. You might not see any immediate consequences, but your “tree” would begin to grow crooked, not straight. Eventually, other acts of rebellion would follow, and you would be so far from the original path that it would seem impossible to return to it.

Another metaphor that could be used is a car. It starts out straight, but if it is pointed just slightly in one direction or another, soon it would be going in a completely different direction. This is why you must take care to think your decisions - and their consequences - through completely before doing anything.

The House of the Scorpion - Pre Reading

Many people think that clones are not human. They think that clones are not human because they are not original, they are only copies of someone else. This is a good reason for their argument, but, in the most basic terms, a clone is human.

In the dictionary, “human” is defined by contrasting humans to animals, or other humanoid creatures in novels. No mention is made of clones, but I can only assume that they are included as humans. Scientifically, a clone is just as much of a human as everyone else, as they have normal human genes. Furthermore, cloned sheep or cloned horses, to give examples, are still considered sheep and horses.

A clone is still human, in my opinion, as they still exhibit human emotions and have human genes. Clones are exactly the same as another human, meaning that they are human as well, at least to me.

Another argument is that there are natural “clones” in nature: identical twins. “Since they developed from the same fertilized egg, the resulting individuals are genetically identical,” says the Genetic Science Learning Center.

However, this doesn’t mean that I think that cloning is right. Imagine for a moment if you were a clone. There is a wonderful feeling in knowing that you are original and one of a kind, and cloning takes that away. 

In conclusion, it is my belief that clones are, in fact, human, just like the rest of us. This can be proved by both scientific evidence and logic. However, that does not mean that I believe that cloning is right. I do not think that human cloning should be legal, but I think that scientific research on cloning and clones should be legal, as it will help us better understand genetics and will possibly help scientists find cures or vaccines for genetic diseases and deformities.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Pre Reading

I can’t know for sure what I would do if I had a sibling with Aspergers, as I don’t even have a sibling to begin with. I think I would struggle with my sibling getting more attention, even though I don’t like getting attention myself. That probably doesn’t make sense, but that’s how my emotions work.

I don’t think I be able to understand my sibling. I tend to keep emotions and feelings private, and am unable to understand the reasons behind attention-seeking. I would probably end up getting frustrated at this lack of understanding, then getting angry at my sibling. I would then get angry at myself for getting angry at my sibling.

I think that it would be extremely difficult emotionally to live with a sibling who has Aspergers Syndrome, but I also think that there would be some positive things about it as well.

I think that I would learn how to be more understanding to other people, not just my sibling. I would have more practice at thinking before I speak. I would need to learn to be more patient and things like that.

I would become bolder, because I would have to defend my sibling from the teasing of others, and defend myself from the teasing that other people would give me about my sibling. I think, after a while of that, I wouldn’t care about what other people thought, which is something I always though that I need to be better at.

I also think that I would learn to sacrifice things that I wanted for things that someone else wanted, even with something as simple as picking a movie to watch.

All in all, I think there would be both pros and cons to having to live with an Aspergers sibling. I think that I would learn a lot, but that there are also a good many things that I would have to deal with.