Character Analysis: The Sisters Brothers

Parents have a great influence on their children, knowingly or unknowingly, they shape and guide their children towards adulthood. This can be seen with The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. Eli Sisters, one of the brothers of the Sisters family, is influenced by his mother and takes on the her qualities, even though, he only knew her for a very short period of time. Another character that is heavily influenced by their parents is Hermann Kermit Warm. Hermann follows his father's path and becomes the man he feared as a child. The last character that follows this pattern is Charlie Sisters, who unwillingly follows his father’s path. Through the usage of characters Eli, Hermann and Charlie, deWitt portrays that parents are the most primitive

During his childhood, when Sister was young, he separates from his mother, however, the time he spent with her led to him gaining many character traits from her. For example, a recurring point in the story is that Eli and his mother are both controlled by their emotions. For instance, Eli chooses to keep Tub, his horse, because “he has been a loyal animal” even though “[the] black horse was one in a million” (deWitt, 87). In this scenario, buying the black horse whilst selling Tub, made Eli feel as though he would betray Tub. The same type of thinking is reflected in his mother’s actions when she “hooked her arms around [Eli’s] neck and kissed [him] below the eye” (324-325). She puts up a facade, trying to act tough in front of Eli, however, her emotions take over and she cannot stop herself from embracing her son. Another attribute that Eli and his mother share is their kind-hearted nature; although Eli is an assassin he selflessly helps strangers whom Eli and Charlie come across on their journey. Eli helps a young boy who separates from his family by giving him gold so he can get “back to [his] home, and [his] girl” (112). Through helping the