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
Kimmy calls Nina, a rare occurrence ever since Ras told her to cut ties with those still “trapped in the Babylon shitstem.” Ras flies to New York every six weeks, but still hasn’t got Kimmy a visa even though his father is Minister of Tourism. Kimmy asks Nina what she knows about Garveyism, and Nina asks if she’s joking. Kimmy asks if Nina has read a range of radical books, such as Eldrige Cleaver’s Soul on Ice. Although Nina feels angry at Kimmy, she also has an impulse to protect her.
Nina clearly believes that Kimmy’s commitment to black radicalism is superficial, given that it is inspired by her relationship with Ras rather than her actual political convictions. On the other hand, Nina’s dismissal highlights Nina’s own total lack of political principles, which leaves her aimless and lost.
Themes
Nina once went with Kimmy to a “twelve tribes” gathering for Rastas, where all the women were dressed in modest clothing. Back in the present, Kimmy calls Nina a “dutty little hypocrite” for having sex with the Singer—a friend of Kimmy’s saw Nina waiting outside the Singer’s house the night before. The conversation quickly descends into an argument, with the sisters hurling insults at each other. Nina feels desperate, furious, and reckless. She wants to keep yelling at her sister, but Kimmy hangs up.
In typical sibling fashion, Nina and Kimmy are driven apart by their competitiveness, but also their similarities to one another. They resent one another for these similarities, suggesting that their irritation with each other is in fact based in their discomfort with themselves.
Themes
