A Brief History of Seven Killings

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Ghosts recur as a motif throughout the novel, representing both The Illusion of Ambition and Legacy and Factionalism as a Catalyst for Social Violence as themes.

Each part of the novel is bookended by the appearance of the ghost of Sir Arthur George Jennings, a politician who describes the afterlife on the peripheries of the living world. According to Jennings, the dead “never stop talking” (1), which foreshadows other narrators who die during the novel but continue to tell their stories. The ghosts of Bam-Bam and Demus address the Singer directly, partly to justify their participation in his ambush and explain how they were used by Josey Wales and Weeper. Their posthumous narrations serve as attempts to set the record straight: They are concerned about how they will be remembered, but their participation in the ambush becomes their legacy.

All of the ghosts who speak are the victims of violent death; their interest in the living is the result of the unresolved nature of their own lives. Jennings, for instance, is around only because he is waiting for the death of his killer, Peter Nasser. Nasser lives a long life, which frustrates Jennings; in the meantime, he becomes the observer of many other violent killings. In one case, Jennings observes the ghost of a fireman killed by Josey. Since the fireman isn’t involved in the gang war, his death reminds the reader of the collateral damage that factionalist violence causes. The fireman’s ghost follows Josey and tries to strike him in revenge, but Josey feels nothing, underlining his lack of empathy for the human cost of his ambition and rage.