2002: The House of the Scorpion
Author/Editor: Nancy Farmer
The House of the Scorpion is a young adult fiction novel that tells the story of Matteo, a clone living in a dystopian world. Scientific processes such as cloning and electronic mind-control are utilized by the corrupt ruler’s regime and the drug trade, pollution, and illegal immigration affect large parts of society. By taking these contentious topics of today, Farmer illustrates how the world might be if these institutions go unchecked.
Farmer explained her choice of the science fiction genre for this work by saying, “Science fiction allows you to approach a lot of social issues you can’t get to directly. If you wrote a book about how cloning is horrible, it would read like a sermon and no one would pay attention to it”.