Justin Individual Post 2

What literary aspect is most interesting to you so far (chapters 1-9). You may want to examine Farmer's setting, characterization, them development, use of metaphor, figurative language in general, etc. Don't forget to use specific examples and quotations from the novel to support your thinking.


The most interesting literary aspect that appeals to me so far is her characterization. I'm very surprised that Farmer has introduced many characters in the first couple of chapters. In chapter one, she established Eduardo and Lisa who so far are both ending up as flat characters. In chapter two, she established Matt (protagonist), Celia, Señor MacGregor, and Steven and Emilia. By the end of chapter 9, they have now introduced Tam Lin, El Patron, Rosa, Tom, Willium, Mr. Alacran, Maria, Teacher, and Felicia. My question to her would be, why so many characters? Aren't you afraid that everybody is going to get confused with the characters? I sure did. At the beginning, trying to keep up with the characters was quite difficult. I found myself looking at the character list at the beginning of the book many times.


I also wonder why the first chapter was there. Why didn't you put the section about the cells in the Prologue. This just puts the book in an awkward position because now, you have created 2 characters to be never talked about again in the book. I also find it interesting that Farmer would decide to introduce the protagonist (Matt) in the second chapter. 

Arash's 2nd Blog Post

In terms of literary theory the thing that I am going to be talking about is characterization. Matt is the protagonist of the book, seeing that the whole story is centred around his life. Though he is a rather interesting character because, he gets a lot of angst from his fellow peers.  He seems to the people who don't consider him an animal (such as Tam Lin), to be a shadow or reflection of El Patrons past. He is obviously a very round and dynamic character, as he experiences change frequently. I find the way that Farmer introduced Matt to be very good. Matt is a very kind hearted human being, who for the most part does not enjoy seeing other peoples sadness and pain.

Farmers setting also causes all the change that occurs with matt both psychologically, and physically. In the prison that he is trapped in with the vile Rosa, he undergoes physical change through the pain in his feet, and also the other conditions gained from his "nest/kingdom". However the worst is the psychological changes. He became a more quiet and depressed character (containing many thoughts and feelings), aside from the naive kind-hearted protagonist that we knew at the beginning of the story. This can be found from the quote Matt said after Celia and Maria came to the prison to rescue him. The quotation is: "They were an unwelcome intrusion in the orderly world he had created"

Round Table 2

Here is our second round table discussion:

Sam Individual project 1

•   What you wondering about? 

I wonder why Matt was kept in the poppy fields for the first six years of his life. Celia seems to be worried that he will hurt himself if he leaves the house even though she is not her mother. I also wonder why clones are regarded as animals and treated as such. Matt seems like any other boy his age and when the kids learn that he is a clone they are disgusted by him. The fact that he was kept in a cell for six months shows how little anybody cares about him. I wonder weather Matt will find anyone who can look past him as a clone and more as a human.

•   Has anything struck you about this section? 

I was shocked at how they made the clones as they are born from the womb of a cow. It seems that no one wants to carry a clone in her belly for nine months. I also find it odd that Mr. Alacran was angered so much by Matt’s presence in his house and that his blood got onto his carpet. I was stunned at the conditions that Rosa kept Matt, this seemed more like torture then keeping a clone healthy. It does seem wired that Matt was kept all alone in the Poppy fields with only Celia to watch him.

Why is Farmer making the choices that she is in this first section?

I think that the author is trying to show the reader how tough it is to be a clone and how you would be treated. She also shows that Matt was kept isolated so that no one would know he was a clone. Farmer uses the beginning to introduce the important characters in Matt’s life. This helps us make a connection to Matt and feel his plight when he is trapped in the cell. We also understand who Matt’s friends and enemies are.

Justin - Individual Post 1

What was I wondering about?
Throughout the first couple of chapters, I felt like the story was all over the place. One day, Cecilia magically goes off and the kids come that day and take him away and towards the end of the section, Cecilia magically appears to come save Matt. I was also wondering why the father of Steven and Emilia knew who matt was and automatically thought that he was a beast and a terrible person. Matt has no knowledge? He was playing in his prison with bones as dolls and playing with worms. Why didn't anyone teach him what is right and what is wrong?

Has anything struck me about this section?
What struck me the most about this section is how everybody treats Matt like he isn't a human being. I totally agree that he's not, but he appears human, so why would they all obey the father because he's "the boss" or the father. Somebody should be standing up for whats right. I'm glad that maria took on a role of trying to save Matt because he isn't that bad of a person.

Why is Farmer making the choices she is in this section?
I believe that Nancy Farmer is making the choices in this section because she wants to gradually tell the story. She starts out as matt being born from a cell that was cloned from the "real matt." She then put him into a house with Cecilia, his guardian. And as they keep the story going, he makes his way into the Rich Kid's house and he manages to start growing with his character. He starts building a sense of being a human. The problem is, he doesn't know the difference from being wrong or right.

Arash's individual Post

Arash: February 29, 2012

Personally I wonder why people are so mean to Matt? I mean it shouldn’t be a big deal that he is a clone. Also why was his mind kept in tact when all the other clones' minds were not? But regarding what I was wondering earlier, I mean technically clones share the same genetics as humans, so if the are biologically like, and behave like humans than shouldn’t the clone be treated normal? Also, if they extracted the intelligence of clones, then what is the point of making clones in the first place? Why was Matt so special that he was able to not lose his intelligence unlike the rest of the clones? I found it interesting the changes that he had gone through when he was in the prison he was in. I wonder how his experience would have differed if he didn’t learn he was a clone?

Some things that struck me in the story were of course the amount of hate that Matt got. Also how psychologically insane he had become when he was in the prison. That by our standards of course is inhumane. I can understand why he was becoming so damaged, and that also kind of tore my heart. He was kind of referring to the prison as his kingdom whereas if he were thinking straight, he would have thought it the opposite. And also when Celia came to rescue him, he was unhappy to be taken from his kingdom. This of course is another example of how insane he had become, because in reality he would be overjoyed to see Celia. But of course that is to be expected if a young boy stays in a prison for half of a year, with no one, not even the only family he ever had to talk to.

I think that the author introduced the characters and plot in the beginning like this because, it allows us to get to know the main characters, and also some important history of Matt. I also think that the author used the prison setting in order to establish the feeling of the dark psychological emotions that he was going through.  This was also used to show the development of his character, and also the loss of connection between himself and Celia.

Romi's Blog Response 1

Romi’s Blog Response

What are you wondering about? 

From reading the first few chapters I have been really intrigued about why people dislike the clones. Why would people make clones if they are useless? According to most of the characters in the book they refer to clones as “dirty animals” and other names which make me ponder at why we would even use these clones in the first place. I also wondered about why El Patròn would need  a clone like Matt, is it for his own amusement? What is he planning to do with matt in the future?  It also amazed me at how Rosa treated Matt, she treated him worse than most animals are treated. The thing that bothered me more about this was Matt wasn’t really ever rude to Rosa at all yet she basically tortured him, both physically and mentally.

Has anything struck you about this section?

 The way that people acted when Matt got injured. At first everyone was nice to him and helped him clean his wounds, then out of the blue they got so scared and horrified that they had to dump Matt on the grass because “He was bleeding on the sheets”. Why do they treat clones like this I wonder? It also  made me feel outraged when Rosa put Matt in the chicken coup and made him stay there. Why did Rosa treat matt so inhumanely? Maybe Rosa had a bad experience with a clone in the past and that is why she treats matt as if he isn’t worth anything.  I think that as the story progresses people will start respecting matt more. I also think Matt may escape the country of Opium when he is older and start a new life somewhere else, maybe Matt does something to make El Patron mad and needs to escape later on.

Why is Farmer making the choices that she is in this first section?

I believe that farmer makes choices in the first section based on how she wants to introduce the characters.  For example she shows matt as a kid who is socially awkward, because he hasn’t been out in public and hasn’t really talked to anybody other than Celia. Farmer also hints that Celia is hiding something from matt, or hiding matt from something because she tells him that there are monsters and other un-desirable things in the outside world. Celia takes even more drastic precautions to keep Matt from the outside world by barring the windows and doors, and tells Matt never to talk to anyone outside the house. This is obviously set up by Farmer to show that there is something in the world that Matt is being hidden from. Later in the section she shows how Matts psychology changed when he is imprisoned by Rosa and is treated dreadfully by everyone else in the house. It shows how he goes from a happy, shy, and innocent little boy to a depressed child who is deprived from basic needs. These choices really show how Matt reacts to his surroundings and it shows how he thinks about the world around him.