The Sisters Brothers Character Analysis

1241 Words5 Pages
Patrick DeWitt's novel, the Sisters Brothers, challenges the notion that positive morality leads to personal success. Characteristics such as loyalty, integrity and humanity are all attributes that help define good morality; however the novel helps expose how these morals do not guarantee the betterment of one's self. The approach DeWitt assumes when pursuing morality is an interesting one as he helps illicit unexpected consequences as his characters pursue good morality. Similar to integrity, characters that support good humanity often fall victim to malignant circumstances. The novel begins with an instance of this. Eli remarks that he lost his old horse in a fire during his previous contract (DeWitt 5), and as such replaces his personal horse…show more content…
On one instance, Eli recounts that he felt like he was chasing his brother (DeWitt 18) as Tub cannot keep pace. However, while resentful, Eli's humanity causes him to want to shelter and protect Tub despite the horses physical incapability as he says that Tub is a "... faithful animal to [him]" (DeWitt 87). In doing so Eli predisposes himself for more shortcomings; by preserving his humanity he denies himself a horse prepared to serve him well. The preservation of humanity grows to define Herman Warm's life as well. In fact, his effort to uphold his morality is precisely what leads to his death. In the climax of the novel, the Sisters brothers, Warm and his associate Morris are preparing to collect gold from a stream as a part of their plan to get rich. Unfortunately, the solution used to identify the gold is highly toxic to the point of being lethal, so any entrance to the poison saturated water is marked by certain death. Near the end of their expedition, Morris falls into the water, and Warm selflessly plunges into the river to recover Morris (DeWitt 286). A few days after the incident Morris dies followed by Warm, both of them succumbing to their injuries sustained from the poisoned river.

More about The Sisters Brothers Character Analysis

Open Document