Journal Entry Three Scott

The novel 'The House Of The Scorpion' has some background knowledge, and several references, which I am unsure of. Some of the background knowledge which I am unsure of comes from the country of Aztlan, south of Opium. Throughout the novel, very little is mentioned of Aztlan, beyond the fact that it was founded around one hundred years before the start of the story, and was once a part of Mexico. In fact, it is mentioned so little, that you often forget it even exists while reading the novel. I understand that the author did this so that the reader could sympathise with Matt's sheer level of isolation from the rest of the world while in El Patron's mansion, but it still would have been nice for the author to further explore the interesting world which she created. Even when Matt does journey to Aztlan, very little is mentioned of their society, or their history, beyond what Matt learns from the orphans in the orphanage. Even while in Opium, the reader learns very little about how the country was founded, or how such a small, corrupt nation manages to exist living next to a damaged, but still powerful, world superpower. All the reader ever learns about Opium is that it is in between the U.S.A. and Aztlan, has El Patron as it's leader, and has a thriving drug trade. Overall, for whatever her reasons, I feel that the author left out way too much background knowledge. The novel is still an excellent read, but I feel as though it could have been a masterpiece had the author just put in more background detail, and explained the references much better.