Kenna G - Character map Assignment HOS

Alacran Empire

Matt in the Alacran Empire

Matt thinks about Saint Francis and feels that he is an abomination.

Matt feels seperated from humanity after seeing Steven get married.

Matt gets controlling of others after he is given power.

Matt socializes with another kid his age for the first time.

Matt, a lonley clone of drug lord, is feeling isolated.

Matt sees how fast Tom can switch emotions.

Matt is torn between two ways of viewing himself while asking for forgiveness.

“...I can have anything I want. Isn’t that so, mi patron?“ (Farmer 109).

“Saint Francis spoke to everything-Brother Sun and Sister Moon, Brother Falcon and Sister Lark. It gave Matt the warm feeling that the world was one loving family-very unlike the Alacrans. But would Saint Francis have said, Brother Clone? Matt's warm feeling evaporated. He wasn't part of the natural order. He was an abomination” (Farmer 166, 167)

"Maria’s interest drove Matt to greater and greater heights. He talked feverishly, unable to stop, and he ground his teeth from sheer nervousness. He’d never had so much attention in his life" (Farmer 31).

"Matt wished desperately that he could get over things [as fast as Tom]. Whenever he was hurt or angry or sad, the feelings stuck their claws into him until they were ready to let go" (Farmer 66).

“[Maria would] forgive [Matt] because he was a dumb animal and didn’t know any better. But Tam Lin had called Matt a human and expected much more from him. Humans, Matt realized, were a lot harder to forgive” (Farmer 138).

“[Matt] thought he understood the Alacran empire every bit as well as Steven. For the hundredth time Matt felt the gulf that seperated him from humanity. All these people were here to honor Steven. No one would ever honor Matt, nor would he ever marry" (Farmer 205).

"Matt had watched children on television. He saw that they were seldom alone. They did things together, like building forts or kicking balls or fighting. Even fighting was interesting when it meant you had other people around" (Farmer 7).

Brother Clone!

This shows that Matt after Matt is given authority over others, he acts controlling of others and will even side with El Patron in order to get power over others. As of this point in the story, Matt is unaware of just how evil El Patron is, so he follows his encouragement, and gets caught up in the moment, not knowing that he is doing anything wrong. In this moment, Matt is not thinking about how his actions might affect others, and only thinking about the power he has.

Matt is feeling socially anxious because of how much sudden attention he is getting from another kid his age. He had never experienced being listened to so closely, and this results in him being nervous just to have a conversation with another person. It also shows that he is trying very hard to keep Maria interested in the conversation because she is interacting with him and he wants her to continue with this.

Matt cannot manage his emotions and greatly wishes he could. He experiences emotions on a huge level, and rather than him controlling his emotions, his emotions are in control of him. This is crucial for Matt, as he is a drug lord's clone and if he lets his emotions get the better of him, he could adopt the same traits as El Patron, who is munipulative and controlling of others.

Matt feels as though he cannot connect to other people as much as those that he sees on television. He feels a deep desire to be around others, even if he and them would be having a negative exchange with each other, all he wants is to interact with another human being, other than Celia who he barely gets to talk to anyway. Celia has locked him away and shut him out from the real world, making him desperate to experience it.

Although Matt believes that he has the same knowledge as Steven, he feels that he will never be honored by anyone else just because he is a clone. Matt often feels disconnected from humanity, like no one can understand his experience, and that he isn’t human because of how everyone treats him.

Matt feels happy when thinking of the world in the positive way and that everything in nature is family, but then he starts to feel as though he is not a part of nature and as a result he thinks of himself as a different species from everyone else. He stops feeling happy when he thinks of how he is treated by the Alacrans which gets him into the mindset that the world is against him.

This shows that Matt is torn between two ways of viewing himself; animal or human. On the one hand, Tam Lin views him as another human being, but he expects more of him. On the other hand, Maria views him as an animal, but she doesn’t expect him to know good from bad. Matt is unsure of which way of viewing himself is accurate, or even which of the two is better to be. Because of this, he is indecisive of how he can be forgiven. He doesn’t know if he should own up to his actions or if he should act like he doesn’t know any better.

Matt must make new decisions on his own as the new ruler of Opium.

“Matt saw the first laborers. They walked slowly, bending down with tiny knives to slash

the seedpods. What was he going to do about them? He was their lord now. He was the master of this vast army. Matt felt utterly drained. Somehow, he’d expected everything to work out. He’d expected himself, María, Tam Lin, and Celia to someday be happy together. Now it was all ruined. “You fool!” he shouted at the vanished Tam Lin. Could the eejit operation be reversed?”

(Farmer 378).

Matt now realizes that all of the eejits are his responsibility as the new ruler of Opium, and he wants to free them. This shows how different he is from El Patron, who would have never even thought of freeing the eejits. Matt is just getting how to be a good leader after being thrown into this big role to fill without anyone to guide him. He is also clearly wishing Tam Lin were there to guide him in his new duties, but he must embark on this new adventure on his own.

Aztlan

Matt in Azlan

Tam Lin tells Matt the truth about clones.

Matt is not influenced by the norms in Aztlan.

Matt feels as though El Patron lives on through him after his passing.

Matt will not kill another person, even out of defence.

“Well, Matt. Do you have any personal shortcomings you’d like to share?’ ‘No,’ said Matt…

Everyone gasped…‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’ Matt understood the lesson all right. It was

this: Even slavish obedience didn’t protect you from punishment" (Farmer 302).

“‘No one can tell the difference between a clone and a human. That’s because there isn’t any difference. The idea of clones being inferior is a filthy lie.’ Tam Lin strode off to the metal chest, leaving Matt openmouthed... How could a clone be the same as a human? Everything in Matt's experience argued against it” (Farmer 245).

“Matt’s head spun. Jorge was curled into a ball. Maybe he was seriously hurt. The boys were dancing around excitedly, and Matt guessed they were about to join in. ‘Stop!’ Matt cried, dropping the cane. He grabbed Chacho and pulled him back. ‘We mustn’t kill him!’” (Farmer 319).

“But he wept for El Patron, who deserved pity less than anyone in the world. In an odd way it felt as though El Patron were still alive, and in one sense he was. For Matt still existed. As long as he survived, El Patron had not vanished from the world” (Farmer 252).

This quote shows that Matt is not influenced by the norms of society because the other children are brainwashed to thinking that they should follow the Keepers’ orders and the Keepers are used to being obeyed by the boys, making it the norm, but Matt still doesn’t believe that listening to the Keepers will ever bring good to him. Even though he is the only one who is not following the Keepers’ rules, he will not change his mindset or succumb to their rules.

The fact that Matt didn’t want Jorge to die shows that he has more regard for people’s lives than El Patron, who wouldn’t have hesitated to kill someone. Matt doesn't even want to kill a Keeper, who has brainwashed children, who intended to kill a child, and who will kill Matt and Chacho if he is let go.

This is a turning point for Matt because he discovers that he is no different from a human and that there is a chance that he could be viewed as an equal and respected by others. He also realizes that the way the Alacran family has treated him has been a lie. Even though he is a clone, in no way does that make him inferior to another person or is it justified to treat him the way that they did, and Matt is only coming to know that at this point.

Matt doesn’t feel that El Patron is a good person, even though Matt is the same person, he doesn’t view himself as a bad person like El Patron. Regardless of this, he still feels as though he is a part of El Patron’s existence and that he is the remnants of El Patron’s story even though he knows he is a different type of person than El Patron.

The Character Development of Matteo Alacran