A Brief History of Seven Killings: Part 4, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Part Four is set on August 14, 1985. Dorcas Palmer thinks about girls who immigrate to America and still speak like “dutty whore” from Jamaica. Dorcas has been with the God Bless Employment Agency for three years, and often sees these girls when she goes into the agency’s office. She lives in a fifth-floor walk-up, and stays with the agency so she isn’t evicted. She is about to be assigned to a family called the Colthirsts, who are clearly distinguished in some way. Dorcas is sure she will be well-suited to the job, as she is a high-school educated woman who grew up in Havendale St Andrew, a respectable suburb in Kingston.  

Dorcas sometimes worries about the fact that she has nothing to worry about. She observes that spending 10 minutes in Times Square makes her miss West Kingston, though she would never go back. When she first came across God Bless Employment Agency, it was obvious it was run by Jamaicans. She was desperate, as she had previously survived by blackmailing her American ex-boyfriend in Arkansas and threatening to tell his wife about their affair.

The first job Dorcas was assigned through the agency was to take care of an elderly woman who had been left lying in her own feces and urine. However, Dorcas quit when the woman’s middle-aged son began exposing himself in front of her. The next job also involved looking after another elderly woman who died two weeks later. The next week Dorcas went to a Jamaican club called Star Track in Brooklyn. A Rasta approached her, saying it looked like she needed a backrub. Dorcas could tell he wasn’t “a real Jamaican,” although they slept together anyway. He left his number but they never saw each other again.

Dorcas arrives at the Colthirsts’ apartment, which is on East 86th Street between Madison and Park. A man opens the door and says: “You must be the new girl they hired to wipe my ass.”