Character Development: Matt

Character Development: Matt


The House of the Scorpion set a breakneck pace for the first five chapters, putting perhaps some of the most important things at the beginning rather than the end.  However this allows us to view the character development in the story much sooner and in much more detail.  This post is dedicated to the character development of Matt, the main protagonist of the storey.

Matt is first presented as a small child who is relatively normal, begging Ceila (Who acts as his mother) to stay with him rather than going to work.  He is to avoid the microwave and often plays with stuffed animals.  However soon after reading a storey he goes to play with his toys, this is the first sign of development in Matt's character.  Matt plays with the toys but soon stops after what he describes as a, "hollow feeling" (p. 8) as he realizes are not real, they can't hear him or understand.  For a few moments it seems you are shown a glimpse into how lonely he might feel being inside his house all the time, that he is a lonely child full of melancholy.  However soon he places his toys against the wall as an act of punishment and moves to the TV.

Still at the TV Matt begins to say its not real and its like the animals, meaningless. He soon describes a feeling of "desolation" and begins to cry.  Here it is shown he hates being alone so often, with the absence of everything, one could say at this point Matt felt like a prisoner.  Still moments after this first development he sees the children.

Matt is strange in seeing the other children, he real doe nothing, showing a sign of innocence, and a lack of knowledge.  Later when Celia returns it is discovered she is not his real mother, this paves the way for a deeper understanding of his feelings of being alone, and seems to add a sense of sadness.

Over the next areas of the book Matt is shown to be religious often talking of Jesus, the Virgin and several other characters.  He talks of this throughout the point of his injury and being thrown outside, it becomes very clear that we knows much about religion.  This is interesting as an aspect of the other characters hating Matt might come from religion and how if they are religious they consider him an abomination, this is certainly interesting as it shows that whilst they hate Matt he is of the same beliefs to an extent, exempt from the issue of cloning, of course.

The next area of development occurs when Maria visit's matt while he is having his foot heal.  Matt tells Maria of several stories told to him by Celia.  While Matt appears to believe these stories it is clear that he enjoys telling them, which lead to the first real hint of friendship between Matt and Maria.  This has shown that he does care about people and is a kind person, child or not.  The effects of this are unclear but it is certain that this friendship and show of kindness by both sides will be developed later in the storey.

Chapter five titled Prison holds the most development of the character Matt, but the development is all rather linked.  Throughout his chapter his torment by Rosa and briefly Tom is seen and the effects it has are far reaching.  From the insults thrown to the addition of chicken litter and the brutality of Tom Matt is left psychologically mute.  This is a clear result of his treatment, and it shows that Matt is as human as they are.  This is because normal people would have damaging effects from things while animals would not.  People regard him as an animal but in no way does he act like one, he feels the damaging effects like any human would and is clearly reacting in accordance to this.  Matt is like what many prisoners are like if they are subjected to torture, his reaction is like those who are tortured for information, or for sick fun and then thrown into poor conditions.

Still in spite of all that matt develops to make the best of the situation rather than sulk in it.  He uses bones from his meals as toys and uses food to attract bugs to keep busy.  He refers to the chicken litter and the cell as his kingdom and often uses it as an advantage to keep busy rather than a disadvantage.  Matt is shown here as an opportunistic character, taking advantage of bad situations and finding ways to do well off of little.  This is an important development that could have consequences throughout the entire book.

Interestingly Matt holds out some hope that Celia will come to his rescue during his imprisonment, an interesting aspect that shows he believes in the goodness of people.  This is clear because while most would simply say that the person didn't care and they were stuck there forever after such a long time Matt holds out and says that Celia does care.  Even while showing some losses of hope it is never complete, and he still believes Celia cares.  He is once faced with saying she forgot about him, but he refuses this idea and thinks of other things. This is a development that might factor into trusting other down the line in the storey.

Overall the Character Matt developed a great deal during chapters 1-5, and i believe this analysis covered most of that development.



Over 600 words as approved by the editor: Cole