A Brief History of Seven Killings

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes cursing.

“Living people wait and see because they fool themselves that they have time. Dead people see and wait.”

In the Prologue, Jennings contrasts the living and the dead in ways that reveal The Illusion of Ambition and Legacy. This passage foreshadows Josey Wales and Papa-Lo acting to bring about their plans, in contrast to ghosts like Jennings, Demus, and Bam-Bam, who have no agency in the afterlife but must simply wait for the deaths of Josey and Peter Nasser to get retribution or justice.

“Reason is for rich people. We have madness.”

Bam-Bam cites desperation as the defining characteristic of Kingston ghetto life. Where the middle and upper classes have the luxury to pursue education and develop “reason,” Bam-Bam and many of the other participants in the gang war have only anger to get through each day. This principle explains Bam-Bam’s contempt for the Singer, who moved up in social class once he became successful.

“I go back home and walk the street and notice something for the first time. Not a single old man in the ghetto.”

Papa-Lo’s character arc is defined by his desire for peace. This passage contextualizes that motivation by driving Papa-Lo’s desire to grow old in a world that leaves no room for elderly people because of violence.