Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Brief History of Seven Killings, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Violence vs. Peace
Masculinity, Sexuality, and Homophobia
Jamaican Culture and Identity
Politics, Power, and Corruption
Witness and Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
Barry puts his children to bed, and immediately after this Bill Adler calls. Bill tells Barry to call off the people tracking him, though Barry denies there are any such people. Bill feels confident that Michael Manley is about to be reelected. He asks why the Singer is on Barry’s “radar,” but Barry refuses to answer this question. They hang up, and Barry and Barry’s wife have another argument about when they are going to leave Jamaica.
One of the novel’s most important literary maneuvers is to describe the event from multiple different perspectives. Although Barry could not be more different than the residents of the Kingston ghetto, they are similarly attentive to and invested in the outcome of the election.
Themes
