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
Josey sees Nina across the road from the Singer’s house and wonders if she is a prostitute, or just another woman in love with the Singer. That night, Josey cannot sleep, and listens to Weeper having sex inside his Datsun. He thinks about Peter Nasser, who he knows has already been plotting to get rid of Josey “when things get too big.” Josey thinks that Nasser is beginning to confuse representing a group of people with owning them. After Weeper’s girl leaves, he and Josey have an argument about the men they have hired to work with them. Eventually, the argument subsides into laughter, and Weeper falls asleep.
Josey’s concern that Peter Nasser confuses representing people with owning them is a little ironic, considering that Josey acts as if he owns people who he has not even been elected to represent. On the other hand, throughout the novel the people of the ghetto show more love and loyalty to the gangsters who “represent” them than the politicians that supposedly do the same. Despite Josey’s brutality, he knows what the people want better than Nasser does.
Themes
