Book Review: My Brother Sam Is Dead

“Look at Europe, they’ve had one war after another for hundreds of years, and show me where anything ever got any better for them.” In My Brother Sam is Dead the authors use the war as a way to hint at the readers that they are against war. They also use Tim as the narrator to show how it is on both sides of the war. The authors (Collier and Collier) look at war like it’s their arch enemy.

Chapter 3 in My Brother Sam is Dead illustrates how war doesn’t necessarily affects everyone, even if you can get news of a battle before nightfall and it happened at noon. In the beginning, Tim talks of how the war is not really affecting the people of Redding. Betsy Read comes by the tavern. Betsy and Tim talk in secret behind the tavern. Betsy makes Tim swear to not tell anyone if Sam were to come back to Redding. As predicted, Sam is coming back to Redding. Betsy doesn’t know when Sam is coming back. Tim doesn’t receive word of Sam’s return for about two months. Betsy gives Tim a signal that Sam is back in October.

My Brother Sam Is Dead by Coller and Coller is a story about a boy named Tim Meeker and how his family falls apart during the Revolutionary War. Throughout the story, Tim is confronted with a life changing dilemma. His father is a Loyalist and his elder brother Sam is a Patriot. He knows that no matter what side he chooses in this war, he will end up fighting his flesh and blood. As the story progresses, Coller and Coller paints a vivid picture of how Tim changes from a boy to a man .

A little ten year old boy was taken as a prisoner of war. He was snatched out of his life and destined to die while others lived. His death actually happened in history, but also in the novel, My Brother Sam Is Dead. It is the year 1775, the Revolutionary War is just stirring among the people. The narrator is Tim Meeker, the youngest son in a family that runs their tavern in the town of Redding. The Meeker family goes through many sufferings at the cost of war. His older brother, Sam is a Yale student who goes to war to fight the British against his father’s wishes. Through the course of the book, many sufferings arise in Redding. Life gets tougher and the Meekers experience the hard reality of war. The authors are against war because they

It doesn’t matter where anyone played a role in a war; the nature of the war itself leaves a tremendous impact on everyone’s life. Just retelling a story

After a few years of going to church with his family fervently on Sundays, fourteen year old Sam lost his father, which later on would describe as “Only one for passion, a military life” .

The ship was cold and food was scarce. It was no condition for a little ten year old boy. He was a prisoner of the war with little hope. Snatched out of his life he was helpless and was destined to die while others lived. He asked to himself, “Why me? Why not someone else?” His death actually happened in history, but also in the novel, My Brother Sam Is Dead. It is the year 1775, the Revolutionary War is just stirring among the people and around the life of the narrator, Tim Meeker. Tim is the youngest son in a family that runs a tavern in the town of Redding. The Meeker family goes through many sufferings at the cost of war. His older brother, Sam is a Yale student who goes to war to fight the British against his father’s wishes.

“If I truly believe the war is wrong, is it then also wrong to go off and kill people? If I do that, what will happen to my soul?” (pg 60). Tim O 'Brien is an American man who was drafted into the Vietnam War. O 'Brien is not a violent man and struggles because he believes that the war is wrong. He debates whether or not he should go to war or move to Canada to avoid the draft. Tim O 'Brien decides to join the army. O 'Brien uses his personal experiences as a foot soldier in the Vietnam War to convey his possible bias perspective that the Vietnam War was a waste of people 's lives and a shameful venture for the United States.

One way the authors argue against war is how they show examples of family division. A major conflict in the Meeker family was Mr. Meeker being loyal to the British King and Sam fighting as a patriot soldier in the war. This resulted in Tim being caught in the middle, questioning which side of the war he should support. Either choice, he decided, would be a disappointment to at least one of his family members. “...between worrying about that and being confused over which side was right I couldn’t concentrate on church much” (Collier and Collier 29). The tension between Mr.

    One way the authors argue against war is through the minor theme of war tears families apart. In the beginning of the novel as the conflict of Sam going to war is introduced, the reader learns that Father and Sam differ in opinions of war. In one of the first few pages Father and Sam are already in an argument as Sam mentions the event of Paul Revere’s ride. Sam argues, “Sir it’s worth dying to be free.” (Collier and Collier, 7). Mr. Meeker is yelling by this point in the argument, “Free? Free to do what, Sam? Free to mock your

A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.

If Tim O’Brien does not change something in his characters he will not make a good point on war’s effect on peoples’ life. For example, also if Mary Anne Bell and if Timmy does not change the reader will not learn something from that chapter because that in the novel Tim O’Brien was trying to send the reader message about how war and a loved person death can change and effect people in a horrible way. If a person fights in war he or she usually change in a negative way and in the novel Tim O’Brien mostly focuses on the negative change caused from war but he also talks about positive changes like when he makes friends. The theme of change always takes a huge role in many novels, T.V shows and

Firstly, Life's death contributes to Tim's reasons to be neutral. For an instance, Tim finds out that father was taken by cowboys on the way back from Verplanks Point. " In June of that year, 1777, we found out that father was dead.""...it wasn't a Rebel prison, ship it was a British one"(164). Tim expects father would die because the cowboys had already attacked him for cattle and he was a Loyalist. Tim discovers that loyalty is valued in the British side. He thinks that why should he be loyal to a side that's dishonest. Tim chooses neutrality because the Loyalists are deceptive, brutal, and aren't true to their word. Since Tim does not want to be on a side with a bunch of hypocrites, he becomes neutral.

The effects of war are very vast and it is a wide variety of occurrences to cover. War can break a man down physically or mentally whenever it pleases to do so. “In war there are no unwounded soldiers” Jose Narosky. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front war affects men on the frontlines in many ways, and leaves scars on their lives forever. Also, in the book Night, Jews are affected by war in concentration camps in World War two and they endure a different kind of war. These texts both deal with the effects of war and what it can do to a population. Both of them have Comradeship with the people in both books having to work together to stay alive.

He is a frightened boy against the war because of the trauma he has seen at the battle with his dad being slain and the common being slayed to by the British