Questions:
1. Where did Matt hide during the days that he spent scared at Celia house?
2. Where was Rosa keeping Matt during his injured stay at the house?
3. How was the section where Matt stayed, different then where El Patron stayed?
4. Describe the oasis.
5. Describe how the setting affects the characters' moods.
6. What was Opium in our time?
7. What was so amazing about Aztlan?
8. Why isn't this statement true?
9. Name the three distinct settings that appear throughout the novel. Describe them.
10. How does it change in the third part of the novel?
-V
6. Later in the novel, Opium is revealed to be what we currently know as the southwest area of the United States. El Patron took over the area and claimed it as an independent country where drugs could be grown. In exchange for allowing this, the US solved its illegal immigration problem, as all people who tried to cross the border after Opium was created would be captured and made to work on the drug farms.
ReplyDelete1. During Matt's time in Celia's house, Matt would often spend his time in Celia's room, watching television and reading books. This room, which was in Celia's house in the poppy fields, would be Matt's sactuary for the early years of his life and he would spend most of his time in this room.
ReplyDelete2. When Matt first arrived at the big house, Matt was kept in an empty room in the servants' quarters. At first, Matt was given a bed, but was taken away by Rosa and was replaced with newspapers. Soon enough, the newspapers were changed to a chicken coop filled with sawdust on the floor. Rosa kept Matt in this deep litter because, "That's what dirty beats get to live in." (Quote from Rosa, p.42)
3. The section of the house that Matt was kept confined to was an isolated area. The windows had bars, making the space seem more like a jail cell. There was also a bed and a bucket, which were later switched to newspapers and finally a chicken's coop. A terrifying silence hung over Matt's hiding place. El Patrons part of the house, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Matt's doom room. The walls were painted cheerful colours. The floor was polished, and windows without bars would look out to the beautiful gardens'. These windows were lined with magnificent blue curtains. El Patron's room was furnished with a carpet which was woven with birds and vines. Next to El Patron's arm chair was a small table which held snacks, such as tea and cookies.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between these two rooms are quite different. Matt's part of the room was made to keep him locked in and hadn't been bothered to look nice, whike El Patron's side of the house was created to make a brilliant atmosphere. Matt felt the different atmosphere of the two rooms while visiting them and could tell that El Patron's room was a much happier place to reside.
4. The oasis was a magical and beautiful place. The oasis was a small narrow valley with a pool of water containing little brown fish in the middle. The valley was framed with creosote bushes and paloverde trees. A trellis was covered in grapevine. Matt noticed the beauty of the oasis on his first trip there and would often return to this place throughout the book.
5. The setting can greatly affect the moods of the characters. As an example, at the beginning of the book Matt was stolen away from his home and put in a confined room which he was not allowed to leave. Silence would constantly fill the room. Matt would cry in this space and would feel horrible. Here he grew a habit of silence and became mute.
After this experience, Matt was taken to El Patron's room. His mood suddenly changed due to the bright setting. His spirits rised because of the cheerful setting even though Rosa had slipped him death threats earlier on. The setting of the story can have a great impacts on the moods of the characters, as seen in Matt's journey to visit El Patron.
10. In the third part of the novel, Matt escapes the El Alacran estate and travels to Aztlan. This setting is completely different than what Matt had been in for the other two parts of the novel, and Matt begins to better understand the world around him. Aztlan is revealed to be an extremist communist state, in contrast to the dictatorship that Matt had been part of for the earlier part of his life.
ReplyDelete