The Great Divide

The Panama Canal is the novel’s most overt symbol. It represents the way that imperialism in Latin America adversely impacted local and indigenous populations and the idea that outside “investment” in the region is self-interested in nature. Billed as a marker for “progress” in a country that most US personnel (including the fictional John Oswald) characterized as a “backwater” or a “swamp,” the canal was supposedly built to bring economic development to Panama and the surrounding region. In reality, the United States financed the canal not out of an altruistic desire to help the Panamanians but rather because the waterway would make trade easier for the US and its partners. The canal thus speaks to the theme of The Negative Impacts of Imperialism in that it illustrates the extent to which the canal represented a disingenuous promise to the Panamanians.

Cristina Henríquez explores both the human and environmental impact of this imperialist project. When Francisco sees the work on the canal for the first time, he is shocked and thinks that the earth has opened its mouth. This creates an image of nature being ripped apart to make way for humankind. Furthermore, whenever the