Character Analysis Of Eli And Charlie In The Sisters Brothers

Sigmond Freud suggested that personality is created with three factors; the Id, ego, and superego. Each of these factors affects the thinking process, and the way they interact with each individual is different creating individual personalities. Patrick DeWitt thought up and wrote the characters Eli and Charlie in The Sisters Brothers, and within their story, these three factors of personalities are displayed. Both brothers show the effects and presence of the Id, ego, and superego, and prove the theory of personalities by Sigmond Freud.

The Id
The most important of the three is the Id, which is by definition the unconscious part of the mind that controls immediate desires such as libido, aggression, and destructive tendencies (Stangor,

It takes all the information given from the Id and superego and gives the person the correct output on what to do. The ego is the only conscious personality, as the person in question can affect the outcome of the ego's choices (Mcleod, 2021). Eli presents the use of the ego when confronting the boy in the middle of the desert, “Showing him the gold, I told him ‘This will get you back home…’” (DeWitt, 112). As said in the section above on the Id, Eli’s first thoughts were to harm the boy to shut him up. His conscience (superego) would not allow that, so his ego decided that giving him gold and sending him away was the perfect

The superego counters all the Id wants with criticism and logical consequences, and can be described as a conscience. (Britannica, 2023). Charlie, even without his immediate thought process, can be shown showing his superego in action when he shows remorse for Tub, “‘Don't you remember? The tooth doctor’s numbing liquid?’... ‘Well? How about giving Tub a splash…’” (DeWitt, 231). This scene happens after a fight between the brothers, and both lose undetermined amounts of trust in one another. Charlie is a person who throughout the book usually lets his Id take over, doing what he wants or what he needs to do to survive. At a stop where Eli’s horse Tub is dribbling blood from every orifice on his face, he offers to give the horse some pain relief. Not once before had he offered even if he had the liquid even during Tub's makeshift operation. Guilt might have taken over, and that would be because of the superego. To make sure the ego takes its side, the superego will use rewards and punishments. Guilt is a common way the superego helps a person follow