3: Patrick DeWitt – The Sisters Brothers

“Our blood is the same. We just use it differently.” Eli, The Sisters Brothers

Our first half term has drawn to a close with two weeks spent on Patrick Dewitt’s The Sisters Brothers: an allegorical picaresque novel that superimposes 21st Century concerns onto the backdrop of the California Gold Rush and the uncharted land of the Wild West. Fast paced, bloody and plot laden, the novel seems a surprising choice for the 2011 Booker shortlist, but behind the brightly coloured cover and the relentless hyper-violence, DeWitt’s novel is layered with complex themes and carefully employed motifs, which shed new light on modern issues such as masculinity, greed and the environment.

Language and Structure

In our first session, we focused our discussion on language and structural techniques used in the novel, and split into groups to decide the significance of the following features:

• Symbols and Motifs – We noted the symbolic use of physical cleanliness (toothpaste, baths, new clothes) to suggest Eli’s need to morally/spiritually cleanse himself (he often sought to be physically clean after a murder or argument). In contrast, physical injuries (Tub’s eye, Charlie’s hand, Eli’s spider bite, Warm and Morris’ burns) seemed to recur throughout the book, perhaps as a physical manifestation of the immorality and greed that pervades the lives of the characters. Money and fools gold also seem to symbolise the greed and the danger of false idols that many of the men struggle with throughout the novel. It is apt then, that by the end of the novel, the Commodore, Morris and Warm have died in their pursuit of riches, and Eli and Charlie haven’t a penny to their name. Finally, blood is often used as a symbol for a character’s natural tendencies, with different characters adopting different attitudes to whether these tendencies can be overcome. Rex – the man who steals Charlie and Eli’s final stash of cash – excuses himself by claiming that theft is “in his blood”, while Eli separates himself from the immoral behaviour of Charlie by suggesting that they have the same blood but “use it differently”.
• Allegorical Style – The allegorical style of storytelling in the novel – while arguably a little simplistic and heavy handed at times – helps to emphasise the morals of the story. One – the dangers of the pursuit of money and Two – that we are responsible for our own fate, and breaking free of the natural tendencies (and nurtured habits) given to us by our ‘blood’. 
  
• Stylised Dialogue – It is unlikely that anybody in California in the 1850s spoke like Patrick DeWitt’s overly formal, overly polite characters. Besides adding comedy to the novel, the refinement of the language provided contrast with the unrefined behaviour of the men, and further emphasised the subversive complexity of these cowboy assassins.
• Eli and Charlie as Foils – Despite the loyalty and love that binds them, Charlie and Eli are opposite in almost every way. Charlie is thin, Eli is broad. Charlie is assertive and decisive, Eli is passive and overly analytical. Charlie is violent and callous, Eli is caring and sensitive. These contrasts help to emphasise the peculiarity of a sensitive man in an uncaring land, pushing us to question our assumptions about masculinity.
• Intermissions – The dreamlike intermissions in the novel bear similarities to Native American ‘Vision Quests’, in which young males go alone into nature to experience symbolic, dreamlike visions on their path to becoming men. Eli’s dreams guide him towards the morality he seeks to develop throughout the novel, encouraging him to realise that he must protect his brother and become the ‘leader’ in an emotional sense, in order to guide both of them away from violence and money to a purer, more peaceful existence.

Themes

In our second session, we turned our discussion to the themes of the novel, such as:

• What does it mean to be a man? Eli is scared of spiders, experiments with dieting and likes to feel clean. What’s more, he wants to talk about his feelings with Charlie, and often speaks with ‘a touch of the poet’. For all of these qualities and tendencies, Eli is mocked, but ultimately, they are the handholds that guide him to his redemption. By the end of the novel, the powerful, violent, unfeeling stereotype of masculinity (which is usually celebrated by the Western genre) is condemned, and Eli’s pursuit of a broader humanity leads him to save the day. He ceases to be his brother’s follower, and reunites his family. In our sessions, we speculated that the name ‘Sisters’ (juxtaposed in the title with the word Brothers) could be another way in which DeWitt is suggesting that there is power in more traditionally feminine behaviour.
• Nature and Nurture: Charlie – despite having, as a child, killed his father – has fallen into the trap of becoming him. He, too, is a murderous drunk with no respect for women. Eli, on the other hand, kills with a conscience. In the end, his conscience wins, and he turns his back on his violent roots. In this respect, the brothers represent the two sides of the nature/nurture debate, and help us to consider which is more powerful, and whether we can take control of our own character, in spite of the circumstances we were born into.
• Greed: No one in the novel prospers from greed – Warm and Morris die in their pursuit of fame and fortune; Charlie and Eli lose every cent they earn as assassins and those who find gold in the rivers of California waste it all on expensive prostitutes and overpriced dinners at The Golden Pearl. In this sense, the California Gold Rush – and its ability to induce “thousands of previously intelligent men and women to abandon their families and homes forever” – is the perfect backdrop to DeWitt’s moral message. Although Warm succumbs to the dangers of greed in his own way, he speaks at length about the value of freedom and independence, turning Morris away from the path of crime by saying:“come with me into the world and reclaim your independence. You stand to gain so much, and riches are the least of it.”
• The Foundations of Civilisation – The men and women who first traversed the American Frontier did so with an optimism that they could start a new and better society to the ones they had left behind: one characterised by independence, freedom and prosperity. With no precedent of law, society or religion, the Wild West has been a symbol of opportunity ever since. By setting his story in this context, DeWitt gives his readers a neat way of exploring the failures of modern society – the damage we have done to our environment, the collapse of our banking systems, racial segregation – against that unspoiled, optimistic landscape. Eli and Charlie want to hoard money and leave others poor, while Warm and Morris poison the rivers of California and kill all the beavers as a result. 150 years later, we are still perpetuating the same mistakes.

Since we spent two weeks on this novel, I’m sure I’ll have missed some key points of the discussion out. If there’s anything in particular you’ve noted, please mention it in the comments section!

Have a wonderful half term week, and I look forward to seeing you all in November for Emma Donoghue’s Room.

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Click here for our session handout

Click here for a copy of Henny’s presentation