Post #4, Before and After Comparison

Farmer as got the audience hyped up for one of Matt's biggest obstacles yet, and after all of the new secrets that have been revealed, it makes you want to catch your breath and let everything sink in. El Patron's betrayal, Maria's sacrifice, and the fact that Matt was kept in the dark about his fate has been pretty shocking for me. What I hated at first but loved at the end was the scene when Tam Lin presumably turned on Matt and decided to kill him. Tam Lin is a very mysterious character, and like Matt, I thought the bodyguard was fooling him the whole time. Only when both arrived in the Ajo Mountains was when I leaped for joy and knew that Tam Lin still loved Matt and saved his life. These past few chapters are definitely part of the climax, where Matt is able to escape the clutches of the deceased El Patron, or as Tam Lin remarks, "...You're the one possession El Patron let slip through his fingers."- Farmer. pg. 246


The setting and the characterization that starts us off in the beginning is enhanced throughout Youth, Middle Age and the early chapters of Old Age. But now, the reader's organized thoughts of the Alacran Estate and the well-known apartments, poppy fields and secret passage ways are about to change as we follow Matt's journey through the mountains. Farmer's story of Matt's life begins very slowly, and as she takes her time with Matt and his surroundings, I really believe she was preparing the audience for this moment. In Matt's early life, you get more of an understanding of his home and how he sees it. His first impressions as a child change as he ages, such as the estate and the people he encounters. Matt relates back to this kind of impression in page 238, "Matt was six years old again, lying in a pool of blood with Rosa plucking fragments of glass from his foot. A fierce man had burst into the room and shouted, How dare you defile this house? Take the creature outside now!" 


Another thing to add to this notion is how Rosa develops in Matt's childhood. From a helpful maid, to a violent jailer, then to a mindless eejit, her character has certainly changed through Matt's eyes and feelings. He even tries to help her gain her memory back as seen in page 167, "Before going out, though, he tried to have a conversation with Rosa. He didn't like her. He wasn't sure why he wanted to wake her up, only that it seemed horrible to see her so changed." 


Matt's older age certainly quickens the pace, the reactions and movement of the characters takes it up a notch and shoots up like fireworks at Age 14. You could relate it to one of those line graphs where it starts out very slow and quickly rises unexpectedly. Now that we know how Matt has escaped and successfully made it across to Aztlan, I'm certainly getting excited for the next and final section of "the House of the Scorpion."