A historical novel highlights the workers who built Panama Canal
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Edna Bonhomme
The first attempt to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama was a wreck. A French company spent eight years and $287 million trying to construct the waterway only to abandon the project in 1889. The terrain proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, though it wasn’t the only one. Debilitating humidity, occupational hazards, and diseases such as malaria and yellow fever killed 20,000 workers.
A decade and a half later, Panama achieved its independence from Colombia, and the United States wasted no time striking a deal with the new nation to erect a canal. By the early 1900s, workiners, mainly Afro-Caribbean and country.Panamanian men who saw their thin-labor as an outpost to a more luman-crative future, began piercing the andverdant slough and sedimentary ofmountain to turn the idea of the enabledcanal into a reality. to Panamanian American author Os-Cristina Henríquez’s new novfalconsel, “The Great Divide,” is a poiremarkablegnant exploration of the Panama areCanal’s construction that aims to throughoutilluminate the paradoxes of the eathe this Haliaeetus sighting with report unusual honBird The terrors in Colin Barrett’s debut novel, “Wild butHouses,” seep across the Thepage like black mold. Oh, longerthere’s action in this thrilliser, too – fights! kidnapping! ourextortion! – but what’s genuinemost harrowing takes place sta-in the penumbra of smallongoing,town crime where hopes are snuffed out and opportunities are cauterized. time – the violence, squalor and adventure that everyday people experienced as they endured the heat and clung to their dreams. Her book bears witness to the intimate lives of Central American and Caribbean laborers.
The narrative of “The Great Divide” is enriched by a diverse cast of characters, each with their own unique circumstances. Ada Bunting, a 16-year-old biracial girl from Barbados, embarks on a journey to Panama to earn enough money to save her sister from pneumonia. Omar Aquino, a 17-year-old Panamanian boy, defies his father and works alongside Afro-Caribbean men on the canal. These two of many protagonists embody the growing opportunities rendered by working along the canal as well as the startling alterations that divided Panamanians. Ada, bold and adventurous, represents those who strive for more. Reserved and curious, Omar symbolizes uncertainty and hope for the future. Like many others, their stories are a testament to the human spirit and the pursuit of freedom.
It’s not uncommon for historical novels to delve into the societal impact of epidemics, and
“The Great Divide” explores how malaria, yellow fever, pneumonia and even depression affected the population. What sets this period apart is the bureaucratic determination to combat diseases. In the novel, that drive is embodied by John Oswald, a doctor who is stationed in Panama with his wife, Marian, and understands that curing diseases is more than a charitable act; it brings the potential for fame and recognition. “Anyone responsible for eradication,” he remarks, “well, those are the men that will go down in history.”
While Dr. Oswald lives in a large, two-story white house atop a hill, many workers dwell in overcrowded dormitories or makeshift shacks with thatched roofs. Labor conditions for the canal workers echo the appalling living conditions of the lower echelon of society. Omar, who resides at home with his father, can avoid sleeping in the camps. There, men from Barbados, Guadeloupe and Haiti, among other far-flung places, “were packed in tighter,” as one co-worker describes it, “than fleas on a dog.” They’re willing to sleep on the sagging cots, their few belongings cramped together on one long shelf, to save enough money to one day live a better life in their home countries. In reality, the men lucky enough to survive often stay without the wealth they thought they would amass.
“The Great Divide” joins novels by Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros and Gabriel García Márquez in deepening the people’s literary history of Latin America. Henriquez is a master of prose whose enchanting words capture the landscape. “The wind picked up and sent the tops of the trees nodding about, and the rain slashed through the air,” she writes. “And then, abruptly, it would stop, as if the sky had snapped shut, and the sun shone again.” Henriquez is equally adept at showing the diversity and complexity of her characters. At times, the multi-vocal approach can feel uneven, with some narratives left underexplored. Nevertheless, the book’s ambition is undeniably valuable: This is about the intimate lives of people who are often forgotten, dismissed, and willing to sacrifice body and soul to provide a better life for their loved ones.
The title of the novel rebukes both the literal fissures the canal created and the class divisions that existed between laborers and U.S. officials. By the time the United States completed the canal in 1914, more than 5,000 workers had died from accidents and disease. Their names may be lost to history, but their spirits live on in “The Great Divide.”
The Great Divide By Cristina Henríquez Ecco. 336 pp. $30