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
It is evening, and Nina has been walking for hours. She thinks about the visa she is desperate to obtain, a ticket out of the apocalyptic place that Jamaica is becoming. She is furious with her father, with Kimmy, and with the Singer. Yet she is walking toward the Singer’s house, determined to get visas for herself and her family. She feels like she is going crazy. She asks a man for the time, and after he tells her it is 8.30 pm she starts to run. Outside the Singer’s house, Nina sees two white cars speed through the gate.
Once again Nina’s single-mindedness leads her to engage in dangerous and irrational behavior. On the other hand, it is clear that she is right in assessing Jamaica as apocalyptic, and from this angle her desperation to leave makes a lot of sense. Given the sense of hopelessness that characterizes Nina’s life and the lives of so many Jamaicans, her reckless behavior doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.
Themes
