A Brief History of Seven Killings: Part 5, Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Alex’s essay series is called “A Brief History of Seven Killings.” Part Three of the series describes a drug addict named Monifah Thibodeaux living in New York. The transcription of the essay is interrupted by Eubie and Ren-Dog commenting on it. Eubie asks why the series is called “A Brief History of Seven Killings” considering that eleven people are killed in Part One alone. Alex has been beaten, stripped, and water-tortured, and is now sitting in his underwear being forced to read his essays aloud. He wets himself, and tells his audience that seven is a “good round number.” Alex keeps reading, and the men object to her describing Monifah as “so ghetto,” asking if she will like reading such an unflattering description of herself. 

The men tell Alex to skip to the part where he discusses the crack house. Alex reads the description of the house itself, but the men protest that they are bored, and ask Alex to read about the killings. He obeys, narrating murders committed by Storm Posse, which he describes as “a loose alliance of Jamaican thugs bred on Third World violence and Colombian drug money.” Eubie asks if Alex has sent in Part Four yet, and Alex replies that he has. Eubie tells him: “You going to call them right now and make a whole heap o’ changes.”