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El Patron has an issue with letting things go and people as well. This can be explained by him losing his entire family at a young age. He keeps everything in his opium empire locked down and won't let anything leave his possession no matter how small. This is also why the eejits were created.

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Celia and Tam Lin had planned to save Matt and ultimately kill El Patron. Celia back stabbed El Patron by feeding Matt trace amounts of poison to make his organs useless. This betrayal is the climax of the novel and shows how important Matt is to Celia and Tam Lin.

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Matt was very talented with music. He learned piano quickly and was a great pianist. His talent for music was also one of the first differences between El Patron and Matt. El Patron enjoyed listening to music but never played and this shows that Matt isn't an exact copy of El Patron and he is his own person.

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Water is a symbol for safety in the novel. The only place Matt had seen a real body of water was at the oasis. The oasis is the only place Matt was ever truly safe from everything that came with being a clone of the most powerful person on earth.

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Matt is struggling to understand who he is through the entire novel. The first realization he makes is that he is a clone. He learns that he is the clone of one of the most powerful people on the planet. "A sudden thought struck Matt. “How old am I?” he asked, holding out his glass for a refill." Matt doesn't even know how old he is until this point in the novel. He also learns later that he was created just for organs to keep El Patron alive.

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A major theme in the novel is power. El Patron is obviously very attracted to being powerful. When he talks he makes sure he is heard, when he gives commands he makes sure they are followed otherwise you will be turned into an eejit. El Patron is indeed very powerful but even all that power isn't able to keep him alive

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Matt was in a losing situation from the beginning. His sole purpose was to be harvested for parts to keep El Patron alive. What saved Matt was love, the love that Celia, Maria, and Tam Lin showed him. Maria was trying to help Matt escape even though it could get her in a tremendous amount of trouble, that shows how much Maria loves Matt. “I love you,” Matt said. “I love you, too,” said María. “I know that’s a sin, and I’ll probably go to hell for it.” Her saying she loves him and that is a sin shows that she cares about him.

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The color red is seen through out the novel and it is associated with anger. Every time El Patron is wronged he is described as turning red. The most memorable is when he finds out that Matt can't be used for transplants, “¡Bruja! Witch!” shrieked El Patrón. His eyes flamed with murderous rage. His skin flushed an angry red. He struggled to claw his way up from the bed."

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Death is something that El Patron avoided at all costs. The thenme of death is very prevalent not only because of El Patron attempting to cheat death for almost the entire novel. Also because of how little El Patron cares about the thousands of eejits he had killed. “You’ve had many lives,” Celia said. “Thousands of them are buried under the poppy fields.”

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Cruelty can be seen throughout the novel. One example is when Rosa is in charge of caring for Matt, "Bleating won't save you, you good for nothing animal." Rosa was especially mean to Matt. Another example is when Tom throws furball in the toilet or when he pins the frog to the ground.

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The scorpion was an obvious symbol in the novel. The buttons to the secret passages were scorpions and they were referenced a few more times. They symbolize secrecy and danger.

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There was a common theme of choices throughout the novel. Matt faced a lot of tough decisions throughout the novel and  he didn't always make the right choice, but he tried his best. "When he was young, he made a choice, like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other... most of his branches are twisted" Tam Lin says this to Matt hoping he doesn't make the choices that makes him end up like El Patron.