House of the Scorpion (1)

He has his good side and his bad side. Very dark indeed is his majesty when he wants to be. When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other. He grew large and green until he shadowed over the whole forest, but most of his branches are twisted.

The person who the quote is referring to is El Patron. He is a very rich drug lord who controls the land between Mexico and the United States, Opium. El Patron owns every aspect and controls everything that goes on in Opium with the help of scientists who are hired to create a vaccine. The vaccine is then implanted into the people and the result is them obeying anything El Patron requests. Because everyone is under his control, no one is able to recognize the negative side of what he is doing and no one is able to stop him.

El Patron is "very dark...when he wants to be". In our eyes, the way he carries out his plan for absolute control is corrupt; however, in the eyes of the "eejits" and others in Opium, they do not see El Patron as an evil man manipulating them. They can not see what he truly is doing and for that the people accept every task they are told to complete. His plans for absolute rule is compared to a tree. In the beginning of his ultimate plan, he took small steps and worked his way up to the top. The small steps he took is compared, in the quote, to the growth of the tree. Tam Lin has witnessed its growth and is aware of its size. He has come a long way from where he started (that is, a poor boy) and has made great accomplishments to have thousands of people work on his farm. El Patron truly has "twisted branches". The use of this word makes the readers believe that Tam Lin understands what he is doing. His actions of implanting people by force is twisted; however, El Patron is unstoppable and no one can match up to his power.

El Patron is a personified representation of a dystopian government. Under his rule, the thoughts of the people are neglected when the vaccine is placed inside of them. He manipulates their minds and does not allow them to have their own personality. One the farm, one man was never told to stop working in the fields so he continued working without rest. His mind has been so brainwashed from the vaccine that he could not decide when to stop working on his own. He was left on the field until he died of thirst, starvation, heat, or many other things. The people living in Opium do not have a mind of their own; they can not make their own decisions and they don't have their opinions. They are trapped in El Patron's twisted branches and there is no escape unless they realize what is going on and stop it.