Two Similar Instances in Two Different Books

Hello, reader! I'm still reading House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and I'm beginning to like it better. I am getting deeper into the suspenseful parts which make the book more interesting. One of the juicy parts I've come across, is the answer to the question: Who and Where is Maria's mom? She is never mentioned in the book... *SPOILER ALERT* If you read on, Matt then figures out that Maria's mom is not dead (which Maria thought) because of the book Tam Lin gave him. That Senator Mendoza made up this lie to make up for her leaving because of their divorce. Later on, Matt then tells Maria about his discovery and the way she reacts is the connection I'm writing about for you today.

When Maria is told, she is confused, devastated, aggravated, and tons more emotions fill her up. She cannot believe that her father and sister (Emilia) had been keeping this huge secret from her since she was a toddler. The fact that Senator Mendoza lied to Maria about her mother's death is depressing although, in many movies and books I've read including divorced parents, this lie has also been told to their children. For example, I read a book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon in 5th grade. The main character, Christopher goes on this adventure to find the murderer of a neighborhood dog. *SPOILER ALERT* On this adventure, he then realizes that his mother is not dead (a lie told by his father) and she had been trying to reach him. I included this because there is a connection between these two books. In both books, these character's reactions to the news, makes them both absolutely crazy. Frankly, I think they have every right to be because for the longest time they could never communicate with their parent thinking that they had passed.

Personally, I think this a disappointing action of both fathers in the two books. I do realize that divorce is difficult, but pretending that they are dead is over doing it. To raise a child well with divorced parents, I feel they should try to have as much communication between both parents so they still feel at home even though they might not be close in distance. If not, thinking that one of your parents is dead, is one of the worst feelings in life. Since the parent told this lie, and the child(ren) found out, I feel like they might do something stupid or wrong.

Thanks for reading!

Predictions in The House of the Scorpion

Hello, reader! I've read more of the House of the Scorpion and I still like it. While I was reading, the chapter I started was when Matt, Maria, and Tom go to the hospital. Now in the beginning of the chapter, it makes you think that Matt and Maria will make up after what happened at the party. But what really happened is  all three of them go through the hospital looking for the cat (this part wasn't very relevant. That's why I did not include the cat part) and end up at the room of MacGreggor's clone. By seeing the clone, Maria was traumatized, witnessing a troubled and ferocious clone screaming his heart out.

I predict that since Maria has seen what a typical clone looks like, she won't be able to be around or stay friends with Matt. I feel that she will be reminded that Matt is a clone too, all these bad memories will rush back to her. Hopefully, my prediction is incorrect because I really like Matt and Maria as friends. Unfortunately, at the point I am now in the book, it seems that Maria will be scared of Matt.

Now, if you read more into the chapter, Matt then talks about what he thinks of doing. This is the quote: "It wouldn't do Matt any good either, except to convince her he really was a beast." He also talks more about showing her that he is a beast later on. Personally, I don't think this could help Matt. The only reasoning I can come up with is by showing her he is a beast, Maria would then want to help him since they were good friends. He would hope that it would conquer her fears towards clones and towards himself.  But actually, I think it would be better for Matt if he did the opposite.