In the novel The Sister Brothers, the author Patrick deWitt suggests through his characters and events that greed leads to the corruption of a society.
Corruption of Wealth in The Sisters Brothers
Eli Sisters
While Eli likes money, he doesn't seem to care about being rich
Eli says to his mother:
"Money comes and goes.' I shook my head. 'It doesn't matter and know it doesn't." (324)
When Eli and Charlie take all over Mayfield's money, an amount of $15000, Eli still isn't pleased
"I felt two things at once: A gladness at this turn of fortune, but also an emptiness that I did not feel more glad; or rather, a fear that my gladness was forced or false." (162)
When leaving the women he feels he is falling in love with, he always gives them a gift of money, and this is seen as a romantic gesture.
One of Charlie's "whores" from the previous night says to Eli:
"You got all the romantic blood, is that it?" (163)
Supposed to be a friendly character and even he is sort of okay with killing people
After Charlie kills a prospector, Eli does this:
"I raised up my boot and dropped my heel into the hole with all my weight behind it, caving in what was left of the skull and flattening it in general so that it was no longer recognizable as the head of a man. " (105)
The Setting of the Gold Rush Era
the gold rush attracted many people, and because of it, the inhabitants of California started to fight for wealth, in any means possible, making it a dangerous time.
During the gold rush area, people from all over flocked to Oregon and California to find gold
Mayfield
He was many prospectors out trying to find the "red-haired she-bear, who's fur will get him a lot of money.
Because people want the reward for the fur, they are going crazy and to extreme lengths to get its fur.
"Mayfield put the price of a hundred dollars on her and now the hunters are going mad for the pelt." (104)
Shows off his wealth in an almost ostentatious way
"I had never seen so many pelts and heads and cotton-stuffed hawks and owls in one place as in Mister Mayfield's well-equipped parlor..." (118)
The Commodore
He describes what he thinks a good man is, and all of his characteristics have to do with materialistic qualities:
"A great man is one who can pinpoint a vacuity in the material world an inject into this a blank space in essence of himself! A great man is one who can create good fortune in a place where there previously was none through sheer force of will! A great man, then, is one who can make something from nothing!" (317)
VERY rich man, yet he's still always mad and upset
"Here was a man whose influence could be found in every croner of the country, and he sat drunk in a copper bathtub..." (316). This quote describes a sad life.
Hermann Kermit Warm
While he seems to be the least-corrupted character of the novel, he dies from exposure to chemicals in the river.
he knows that the chemicals he is using is dangerous and that it causes your skin to decompose, but he still does it anyways to get more gold
San Francisco
"I am happy to welcome you to a town peopled in morons exclusively." (174)
A man at the docks s
There is expensive cheap food, and the prostitutes earn thousands of dollars per day
San Francisco is a city that appears to really show the theme
"You must understand, gentlemen, that the tradition of thrift and sensible spending has vanished here." (173)
Charlie Sisters
Charlie is very impressed with Mr. Mayfield's and it seems like he would be okay with ending up like him even though he is a sad old man.
"I realized by looking at this boss man, I was witnessing the earthly personification of Charlie's future..." (122)
He claims to like his line of work, but he gets drunk whenever he can, so does he really like it? He only likes it for the money that he gets - is this corruption of wealth?
he and his brother kill are hitmen: they kill people for money
not afraid to kill a man
