The Sisters Brothers

“I tried to bargain with you.”

Before robbing the dentist Watts at gunpoint of his stock of local anesthetic, Charlie places the blame for the situation on Watts. Charlie’s attitude toward other people’s property is self-focused: If he cannot get what he wants by discussion and trade, he will simply resort to force.

“I know by the dead men following behind you.”

The old woman in the hut knows Charlie and Eli are killers. On one level this suggests she is able to see into a world of spirits beyond the mortal realm. On another level, it suggests that she can sense the repressed trauma and anguish the brother’s carry with them.

“The men were hesitant to loan me their equipment.”

Charlie kills and robs a party of prospectors because they were unwilling to give him an axe. His euphemistic tone describing the event reveals a flippant attitude toward the lives of others. What’s more, their deaths are completely unnecessary: The axe is supposed to allow Eli to avoid walking out of the allegedly cursed door of the old woman’s hut—but Eli does this anyway to save his horse from a bear.