IMPORTANT: Comprehension questions will be in chronological order as you read through the story. Page numbers are approximate, and will vary with different editions of the book.
Section 1: Panama Craze 1906 – The Forest 1906
Vocabulary
anarchy: a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority or other controlling systems
conscience: an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior
excavation: an archeological site in which someone digs items out of the ground
grueling: extremely tiring and demanding
lure: to tempt (a person or animal) to do something or to go somewhere, especially by offering some form of reward
machete: a broad, heavy knife used as an implement or weapon, originating in Central America and the Caribbean
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
Anarchy is their favorite word. (The Serpent Cut 1906, pg. 31)
“By the time I board/adragon-smoky/Panama Craze steamship/I’ve already told so many lies/that my conscience feels/as hollow/as my belly.” (The Panama Craze 1906, pg. 9)
“Each morning after breakfast/a labor train steams us down, down, down,/into the depths of an excavation pit/called Culebra-“the Serpent.” (The Serpent Cut 1906, pgs. 33 – 34)
“Rain, rain, rain, mud, mud, mud,/and labor so brutally grueling,…” (The Serpent Cut 1906, pg. 45)
“Spanish veterans/flock the seashore, begging/for the same jobs that lure me.” (The Panama Craze 1906, pg. 4)
“Some of the men call out to her/with rude kissing noises, so she clasps/the handle of her machete in one hand/and spins the big cane-chopping knife/like a warning as she sings her wares,…”(The Panama Craze 1906, pg. 20)
Comprehension Questions
Mateo is unlike an ordinary orphan as his Papi is still alive but his mind has left the family. (pgs. 3-4)
The recruiter tells the hired men that they will be building the Eighth Wonder of the World. (pg. 5)
The recruiter does not want Cubanos or islanders as they are are not considered civilized. (pg. 7)
The recruiter had shown the workers pictures of houses with dining rooms and tablecloths, the reality was a train car with cots and mosquito nets. (pg. 17-18)
The Morpho butterflies are able to fool predators by flying high so that their blue wings act as camouflage in the sky. (pg. 27)
Dodging the fists of his angry war veteran papi has made Mateo permanently cautious. (pg. 32)
Life is very different for Jamaicans who work all day and eat their lunch standing up while the Americans sit in the shade and eat at tables and the Spanish men relax and sit on the train tracks to eat. (pg. 37)
Mateo says that anyone who breaks their contract will be arrested and chained. (pg. 39)
John Steven’s tries to motivate the workers by dividing the workers into teams based on ethnicity in hopes this will spur competition and increase productivity. (pg. 43)
Mateo is tempted to go off by himself and save his money so that he can buy paper and pencils to sketch every wonder that he sees. (pg. 47)
Anita gives Mateo some saffron as gift for the mud portrait he did of her and to remind him of his mother’s kitchen. (pg. 53-54)
Time is a friend to the three-toed sloth. (pg. 59)
Section 2: The Cockroach Slide 1906 – Curiosity 1906
Vocabulary
dialect: a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group
enchant: to fill someone with great delight; to put someone or something under a spell
ponderous: slow and clumsy because of great weight
resplendent: attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous
segregation: the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or thing or being set apart
venture: a risky or daring journey or undertaking
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
Regional dialects that no islander knows. (The Cockroach Slide 1906, pg. 92)
As Augusto’s new helper, I can walk/right into his fancy clubhouse, where/gold men sit reading under ceiling fans/that spin like enchanted dragonflies/cooling the afternoon air. (Curiosity 1906, pg. 123)
After another agonizing day of bending/to lift ponderous train tracks,/my back feels as twisted/as a tangled vine in the jungle. (The Cockroach Slide 1906, pg. 66)
Anita is thrilled to accompany us/each time we pack up our supplies/and go out exploring for iridescent/hummingbirds and resplendent/green quetzal birds…/ (Curiosity 1906, pg. 131)
…sending signals across all barriers/of distance, language,/and segregation. (pg. 115, Curiosity 1906, pg. 115)
…I am once again Bird Boy, a grown man/kept young and hopeful/by venturing far and wide/to investigate/the unknown. (Curiosity 1906, pg. 128)
Comprehension Questions
The aroma of spices reminds Mateo of the good things of his past when his Mami was still alive and his Papi knew the difference between wartime and family time. (pg. 65)
Henry thinks the loser boy who fights him every payday is a lot like him, a little crazy over the disappointment of the Panama Craze. (pg. 71)
Henry thinks the loser boy who fights him every payday is a lot like him, a little crazy over the disappointment of the Panama Craze. (pg. 71)
To get away from the anarchists he takes their pamphlets and then goes into the jungle alone and stashes the pamphlets in hollow logs and old tractors. (pg. 74)
When Anita looks at the papers Mateo has stashed, she is surprised to see writing she doesn’t understand, she had expected to see drawings, paintings or a diary. (pg. 76-77)
The pain that Anita holds is the pain of never knowing her true mother. (pg. 82)
Taking care of Anita and teaching her the art of offering hope gave Old Maria energy in her later life. (pg. 83)
After the mud slide the barriers of silver and gold are set aside as both silver and gold men, grateful to be alive help to dig out those buried by the slide. (pg. 88)
The prison is called Renacer, “Rebirth,” because men who enter big and strong leave weak and helpless as babies. (pg. 92)
Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Serpent Cut is special as no sitting American president had ever left American soil until him and he went to boost the morale of the laborers. (pg. 95)
Before learning each’ others language, Henry could never have imagined that he and Mateo could share the same hopes or wishes. (pg. 112)
Mateo is fascinated by the way in which the map man, Augusto mixes two languages, English and Spanish, and science and art in his work. (pg. 120)
Both men benefit by Mateo becoming Augusto’ assistant, as Augusto has someone to organize his curiosities and carry his art supplies to sites, and Mateo earns some extra money and will receive art instruction. (pg. 122-123)
Section 3: The Forest 1906 – Open House 1908
Vocabulary
barracks: a building or group of building used to house soldiers
droves: a herd of flock of animals being driven in a body
executive: having the power to put plans, actions, or laws into effect
languish: (of a personor other living thing) lose or lack vitality; grow weak or feeble
quarantine/b>: a state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals that may have been
wistful: – having or showing a feeling of vague or regretful longing
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
“So much of the silver I earn/goes right back to the Americans/as payment for my cot in the barracks/and payment for those shameful, no-taste/stand-up-in-the-mud/spiceless meals.”(The Silver Ward 1907, pg. 144)
“TOGETHER/we move in droves hordes masses/we line up and march/we eat every creature in our path/living or dead…” (The Forest 1906, pg. 137)
“…Roosevelt insisted that I take this crazy job,/so I made him sign an executive order/that I wrote myself, giving me full control/of every aspect of Canal Zone life…” (he Silver Ward 1907, pg. 149)
“Mateo languishes in a gloomy room/that faces a swamp,/while gold men in their clean ward receive a sea breeze so refreshing/that nurses call it The Doctor.” (The Silver Ward 1907, pg. 159)
“There is a ward for uncurables too/desolate yellow-fever patients who are/quarantined behind screens, so that if/a stray mosquito bites one, it cant’t/get out and bite a healthy/doctor or nurse to pass on/the dreaded disease.” (The Silver Ward 1907, pg. 156)
“Remembering the island makes me wistful.” (Open Hours 1908, pg. 190)
Comprehension Questions
Hundreds of Jamaicans leave the barracks to live in the jungle, because there they can cook their own food, sit down to eat, and feel human. (pg. 144)
Mateo prefers the dangers of the jungle as they are not nearly as frightening as the anger of men. (pg. 146)
George W. Goethals has been given complete power and control of every aspect of the Canal Zone. (pg. 149)
The laborers pay the price for Goethals war on mud. (pg. 154)
The three sections of the hospital are: Silver men, Gold men, and Women. (pg. 156)
The wards of the silver and gold men are different in that the silver men’s ward is gloomy and faces a swamp and the gold men’s ward is clean and receives a cool sea breeze. (pg. 159)
While sick in hospital Mateo overhears the nurses talking about a strange idea, voting rights of all women, not just gold ones. (pg. 160)
Some of the recommendations that Gertrude Beeks makes on behalf of the white Americans is hot showers, drying sheds and good schools for the children. All she can recommend for the silver people is that each laborer be given a blanket and an extra shirt. (pg. 164-165)
Bats find their prey by following the heat of the blood. (pg. 173)
When Goethals announces he will purge all misfits from the gold payroll he means dark men. (pg. 182)
When people start to protest Goethals hiring policy he merely fires them and hires new men or strikebreakers. (pg. 186)
When a foreman shows Henry where to line up for lunch and he sees there aren’t any chairs or benches, it is the final straw and he leaves his contract heads into the forest. (pg.189)
Living in the forest forces Henry to make life changes such as learning how to hunt using a blowgun, learn a new language, to wear fewer clothes and paint his skin with berry juice to protect himself from fevers. (pg. 193)
Section 4: The Forest 1908 – Epilogue
Vocabulary
census: an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals
enumerate: mention (a number of things) one by one; to establish number of something
perilous: full of danger or risk
phosphorescent: the light emitted by a substance without combustion of perceptible heat
ravenous: extremely hungry
terrace: a level paved area or platform next to a building; a patio or veranda
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
I came to Panama planning to dig/the Eighth Wonder of the World/but I was told that white men/should never be seen working with shovel/so I took a police job/and now I’ve been transferred to the census. (The Crocodile Bridge 1910, pgl 213)
How am I supposed to enumerate/this kid with the Cuban accent? (The Crocodile Bridge 1910, pg. 214)
For one horrifying instant,/I feel as if I’m already over the edge/of the perilous rope bridge… (The Crocodile Bridge 1910, pg. 225)
At dusk, there’s the blinking flash/of firelies and the steady light/of phosphorescent mushrooms.”(The Crocodile Bridge 1910, pg. 209)
…three of my old boxcar roommates/stand blurry-eyed and laughing/as they toss a fighting rooster/down, into the thrashing mass/of ravenous reptiles. (The Crocodile Bridge 1910, pg. 223)
We have a stilt hut on a slope/high above the water,/and we’ve built a terrace/we think of as our sky castle,… (Sky Castles 1914, pgs. 235 – 236)
Comprehension Questions
According to the King Vulture, death is king, death is food, death is life and death is in his belly. (pg. 202)
As part of the Embera tribe, Henry has found happiness in a sweet bride. (pg. 210)
The census confuses Harry because he has to count white Jamaicans as dark and every shade of Spanish as semi-white, and he has no idea how to count the Cuban kid whose skin is medium, but his eyes are green; all because Americans want one color for each country. (Pg 214)
Anita loves being unknown for the first time as she can’t be counted because she doesn’t fit any of the census boxes. (pg. 216)
When Augusto sees Henry married, and Mateo in love he begins to wonder if he will ever be the settle-down, quiet-down marrying kind. (pg. 219)
In his letters to Theodore Roosevelt, Augusto pleads for the chance of the animals of the forest be protected from the canal. (pg. 220)
Only nine men are needed to operate the new train-track-shifting machine, which means that six hundred Spaniard are fired. (pg. 221)
After the men ignore Anita’s pleas to stop feeding the alligators, they grab Mateo and try to toss him over the ropes. (pg. 224-225)
The poison dart frogs used to sing to attract mates, now with the building project they sing to give warning of danger. (pg. 231)
With the completion of the digging project the entire forest was flooded, which meant that villages and towns vanished, people and wildlife had to flee for their lives. (pg. 235)
Anita and Mateo communicate with the forest through silence, watching, studying, recording and listening to the forest. (pg. 236-237)
Anita and Mateo dream of one day studying at one of the colleges that exhibit their work on gallery walls. (pg. 239)
Tourists are offered wonderful sights at the Panama-Pacific International Expositition, but Augusto writes there is one thing missing; there is no exhibit showing the contribution of the silver people to the building of the canal. (pg. 249)
