My Brother Sam Is Dead Essay

Response 1-A2: The main character changed in a couple ways throughout the duration of the novel with his thoughts towards being in Vietnam, his relationships with the people around him and his experiences as a soldier. Richies attitude towards this started to stop and Richie started to deal with it. Also, Richies relationships with fellow soldiers grew and tore apart as the events of the story were laid out. For instance, Richie and Peewees relationship grew closer together as the story went on because they went through everything together even in the end when they are close to death. Furthermore, Richies experiences are some that will that will change a person and harden them if they were put into the same situations, forced to do the same things.

The way Tim has changed throughout My Brother Sam Is Dead is a significant change. At the beginning of the story Tim thinks “I can’t wait tell me and Sam a lying in the attic and him telling me about Yale®. Gosh I really want to be like Sam.” As you can see Tim want to be like Sam. When Sam left with the brown bess Tim thought Sam should stay home. In the middle Tim wanted Sam to be home. Tim started changing when father died. In the middle/end Father and Tim went to get rum from a town Father got taken away by the Redcoats/Cowboys. The Merkers except for Sam are Torys/Loyllets. Tim started doing more chores. One day when Tim was eating breakfast he did not complain about chores. He usually would complain about chores and delayed breakfast.

Loss occurs in this book in two ways, through the loss of friends and the loss of innocence or emotion . Tim talks about how he want everybody who reads this book to feel and understand what he went through. O’Brien said “twenty years ago I watched a man die on a trail near the village of My Khe. I did not kill him. But I was present you see

Through the initial characterization of young Tim, O’Brien suggests that when faced with unexpected life changing dilemmas people will more often than naught end up clouded judgement and panic. Young Tim is ambitious and well educated, he is on his way to Harvard University on a scholarship. His life is heading in the best direction possible. This is until he receives the draft letter. His ideals “hurtling down a huge black funnel” and all he can do is “nothing …wait.” His helpless soon becomes rage, rage towards the government who’s motives for the war “were shrouded in uncertainty”. He is “too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything.” “Why don’t they “draft some back-to-the-stone-age hawk?” Why must he, who doesn’t support this “uncertain” war “put [his] own precious fluids on the line.” As “the rage in [his] stomach” “burned down” he soon

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” .

In addition, Tim is torn between both sides. He asks why Sam has to be not nice to Father and tells him that he had it nice; he had money for books and studies that Father sent him. He asks, “Listen, Sam, why do you always have to get into a fight with Father?” (Collier and Collier, 15). According to later chapters Tim looks up to both his father and brother. The split between father and brother causes his dilemma. After being torn between sides and fighting about the sides, it is evident that war tears families apart.

    A little ten year old boy is snatched out of his life as he was taken as a prisoner of war. He is destined to die when 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 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 lots of 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. As the war goes on life gets tougher and the Meekers experience the hard reality of war. Tim is split between the sides of war, but realizes neither side is right. As Tim goes through story the authors show the reader of the difficulties of war. In My Brother Sam Is Dead although both sides are shown, authors Collier and Collier argue that war is futile.

While Tom and Mrs. Trask did not hold the gift of Timshel in themselves, Cal does. Although he suffers from a long term, inner battle with good and evil, Lee is there to show his his true potential and the Timshel inside of him. When he confesses to his father, stating that he “did it” and he’s “responsible for the Aron’s death and” his fathers “sickness” (Steinbeck 595) he questions the good in him. While Lee does not come right out and tell him he’s a good man he makes his father tell him, proving to Cal his true potential. After Lee pesters Adam, while he’s on his deathbed, he utters his last words “Timshel”, giving Cal the freedom he deserves. Although the later actions of Cal are unaware, it can be inferred that he prevails, due to his earlier actions when he’s in such a situation. Proving overall that Timshel is inside of him.

A true indication of a person’s character is the actions she/ he takes when dealing with life’s conflicts. In My Brother Sam is Dead, the authors, James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, create Tim Meeker. Tim, a twelve year old, is growing up and facing many conflicts during the era of the American Revolution. While Tim is dealing with these internal and external conflicts, the reader can see Tim’s personality traits: confused and creative, by what he says and does, and by what others say in response to him.

The emotional pain of reliving the story arouses sympathy in the reader, which as a result allows the audience to identify with Tim’s struggle. He also mentions having to “live with it, feeling the shame, trying to push it away,” which evokes empathy in the reader. It is certain that throughout one’s lifetime, they will experience an event that leaves them guilt-stricken or feeling shameful. By describing his feelings towards the story, O’Brien arouses sympathy in the reader in a way similar to the “ordinary world” phase of the hero’s journey archetype.

Tim had to get everything home safely and was forced to take over all of his father's duties. By this time many soldiers had come through Redding and killed many people, mostly friends. It was very hard for Tim and his mother to keep the tavern and chores up by themselves. Sam ended up being wintered in a town close to Redding and his mother begged him to come home but he insisted on staying in the military and fighting for freedom.

They met in middle school here at Jefferson. She didn't like him at the time because Tim came to school smelling like manure and she thought farmers were gross. When high school came, they dated for a very long time. They are married now. She has influenced him in more than a few ways. One of the ways she impacted Tim was, she helped make him the best he could be. She influenced him to stay in school and she also keeps an eye out for him. She is his partner in crime. A second impact in Tim's childhood, was his brother, Ted. When he and his siblings were all around middle school age, all the boys had to help move a few of the farm tractors to Tim's farm. Ted didn't want to help that day, but Tim needed his help. He told him he had to and so Ted listened. When Ted was driving the tractor, he took too hard of a turn. It tipped over and he passed away. This impacted Timothy a lot. He blamed the accident all on him and has still yet to forgive himself. He doesn't break out of his shell very often anymore to have a good time because of what happened around 20 years ago. He has gone to a medium with his wife, Lindsey to talk to Ted. Ted told him to have fun more often and play jokes on his family. He even told him to get a tattoo. Tim's third impact was his Grandpa Cota. His grandpa taught him how to do everything on the farm. His grandpa was the person that inspired him to become a farmer and own his own farm. Tim's grandpa was one of the biggest people in Tim's life growing up. His Grandpa Cota was his inspiration and role

The piece of text that shows the intensity of the challenge that Tim is soon going to face when Tim remembers “a sudden tightness” in his chest. To back this statement up, even more so, is a particular piece of text from The Writers Journey, “The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major

Steinbeck portrays the significance of timshel through the blessing of Adam and the impact after that. After Adam encounters a stroke from finding out that Aaron died in the war, Caleb confronts him with the truth of how he is the culprit of Aaron’s death. Adam then speaks his last word saying “timshel” to Caleb as a blessing for him. The blessing of timshel “offers Cal forgiveness and the possibility of overcoming the ‘sins of the fathers’”(Schultz). This shows that the lifelong desire of a blessing from his father that Cal dreamed of is quenched by the blessing of timshel. When Adam uttered his last word, it had a great impact on not only Cal’s life, but the continuation of the Trask family. When Lee says “I don’t

He believes that their is a possibility that people are needlessly dying for a war that doesn’t make any sense. This makes him an outsider in his hometown because the way that he views this war is vastly different from his home town. Tim doesn’t get the sense of pride in his country for joining the war like his community does, and he asks questions about the war that he feels that his community won’t ask because of their patriotism, and viewing the war as something to be proud of.