Comparing Power And Nancy Farmer's The House Of The Scor

Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power” and Nancy Farmer’s novel, The House of the Scorpion, have many different elements in common, whereas they may not appear to be very similar on the surface. In addition, things such as other literature and reality bear relation to the highly applicable philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and the concepts of The House of the Scorpion. For instance, The House of the Scorpion and “On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power” both relate to the idea of the conceiving of power. The dictionary defines power as meaning, “The ability or right to control people or things.” Indeed, this is often how people conceive of power, a state of control. However, when one begins to examine the inner workings of

For instance, Nietzsche writes, “He who feels ‘I am in possession of the truth’--how many possessions does he not renounce in order to save this feeling! What would he not throw overboard in order to stay ‘on top’--that is, above the others who lack ‘the truth’” (Nietzsche 1). When Nietzsche writes this, he uses “I” many times, leading to a sort of emphasis on the word. The idea is that man will do anything to make sure that he remains in power. Because it is implied that the person in power shows no concern for anyone but themselves, it can be implied that with power comes narcissism. The House of the Scorpion emphasizes this point as well. When the author states, “El Patrón laughed. ‘That’s the stuff, Mi Vida. Get rid of your enemies when you can’” (Farmer 104). In this quote, El Patrón is showing no compassion for his enemies, and he is only looking out for the preservation of his power. Because he is worried only about his power, and not about any other people, he is a prime example of the narcissism that comes with power. Inspecting the importance of obtaining power leads to other concepts, such as Nietzsche’s agreeable