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
Speaking in a rapid monologue, Demus describes speeding away in the Datsun and feeling himself coming down from the cocaine. Heckle begins saying that they are all going to burn in hell, and Weeper forces him out of the car at gunpoint. At the gully outside Trench Town Weeper gets out of the car and starts running; no one knows where he is headed. Bam-Bam and then Josey also run off, leaving Demus alone. He starts to cry. He feels convinced that he is being chased by the police and starts running. He hides behind a bush and, for some reason, begins to laugh uncontrollably.
The events at the Singer’s house were so intense and traumatizing that the gunmen are now unable to regain control over their emotions. Fueled by both the cocaine high and comedown as well as adrenaline, shock, relief, triumph, and fear, the men scatter in different directions, unable to think about anyone other than themselves.
Themes
Demus has lost his gun. He thinks about the fact that there were no guards outside the Singer’s house, which seems to indicate that the guards knew the attack was being planned. Demus feels miserable and wants to be with his girlfriend. He realizes he has run into a PNP neighborhood and panics as he doesn’t have his gun. He finally arrives at the shack by the sea, but there is another man already in there who tells him to leave. Demus runs and finds himself in a woman’s backyard; he realizes it is his girlfriend, who calls him a “madman” and tells him to get out. When Demus protests, his girlfriend says he is dead to her and then begins crying “Rape!” knowing that this will bring Papa-Lo to her rescue.
Kingston has suddenly become a nightmarish maze from which Demus cannot escape. Even his old home and girlfriend are no longer welcoming, and the shack by the sea where Josey had him stay is similarly no longer somewhere Demus can seek shelter. Demus is thus left with the feeling of being cast out in the world, completely alone. Everything that used to afford him comfort, protection, and security is gone.
Themes
Josey approaches the house, along with Tony Pavarotti and two others whose names Demus doesn’t know. They shoot, and Demus runs away. As he sprints through downtown, he sees newspaper headlines saying that the Singer and Rita are alive, while the Singer’s manager is in critical condition.
To most of Kingston, the survival of the Singer and Rita is a miracle. To Demus, however, it means that everything he has given up has been for nothing.
Themes
