Blood Brother

American literature includes the genre of the Western Novel. Elliott Arnold is a prolific writer of the Western novel and his work Blood Brother is often required for research papers. Have Paper Masters help you examine Blood Brothers in a research paper today.

The novel Blood Brother by Elliot Arnold is a western novel that takes a historical subject and makes it entertaining and educational. The main characters in the novel are Cochise and Tom Jeffords. The novel covers a time that reflects a great deal of happenings to the Indians. The novel begins in the 19th century at the time of the Gadsen Purchase. The main characters are from two different worlds whose paths intermingle.

• Cochise is an American Indian chief who was the leader of a band of Apache Indians.
• Tom Jeffords was among other things a pony express rider, Indian guide, and friend to the peacemakers.

Blood Brother and the Victory Party

From the beginning of the novel the reader is thrown into an Indian victory party. After the victory party the reader is exposed to the estranged relationship between the Indians and the settlers in the 1850's. In 1861 the somewhat peaceful relationship was ended when a Lieutenant captured Cochise and several of his warriors for a crime that Cochise strongly denied. When Cochise escapes he kidnaps several whites in order to offer them in exchange for the other captured Apaches. When the Army did not exchange the Apaches for the white hostages Cochise killed the hostages. What makes this part of the book different from others is that it does not make the Indians look like animals. Instead it is told from the Indian perspective that shows the thought and tactics that go into the decisions that Cochise makes.

Blood Brother and Tom Jeffords

Tom Jeffords fills the position in the novel as the white hero. At the beginning of the novel Jeffords is a rider for the pony express. Through the novel Jeffords wears many hats, the main one being the friend and eventual blood brother of Cochise.As a pony express rider he was asked to speak to Cochise for permission for he and his fellow pony express riders to pass freely without being disturbed by the Indians when they were on their mail route. Cochise gave Jeffords and the other pony express riders permission to pass unharmed. In fact, in some cases riders would pass freely when the Indians were in the middle of an attack on a wagon trail.