On reading the passage, I found the allocation of colours to the different ghosts interesting, a copper-ish ghost and a silver-ish ghosts. This could be the author alluding to the race of the the ghosts, with the copper being African or Black (there is also a reference to African food cooked by the copperish ghost) and the silverish being the White Colonizer. The color copperish and golden light reminds of the film 'Moonlight' which is well-known for its cinematography and specifically for how the lighting was very effective in bringing out and highlighting Black bodies. I am referring to the scene where Mahershala Ali is teaching young Chiron how to swim in the ocean where Ali's body looks cooperish under the golden sunlight.

Additionally, it is also interesting that the narrator's instinct is to pick the copperish ghost, possibly because he can connect with him, but is "forced" to pick the silverish one. This could be a metaphor for how under colonialism, the colonized only have an illusion of a choice and ultimately have to pick the colonizer anyway.