Themes In My Brother Sam Is Dead

This story was more of a personal narrative that tells a story about war and how not only does it affect men, but it also involves many others in the world. The story is told about a young woman whose brother died at the age of eighteen in war. She reflects through all of the memories she had with her brother, the good and the bad. The story is such an emotional narrative that the author pulls you into the story. As someone reads this the reader will feel a similar emotion as the author was feeling at the time of grief and heartache. The reason that this story is a narrative, because this story is told by the author about her experience of losing her brother. She also had many settings and a tone that grabs the attention to readers that made the story more interesting, captivating and

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

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.

In the war for the American independence, the life of a continental soldier was very rough as depicted in the book by Martin. Some of the soldiers of the army served relatively only a short

With this part of the story, O’Brien is able to inject the theme of shame motivating the characters in the book. This chapter is about how the author, who is also the narrator, is drafted for the war. He runs away to the border between Canada and the United States, he stays in a motel with an old man for about a week and finds that he should go to war for his country. In the beginning it was about shame, he didn’t want to look like a coward because in truth he was scared. He was afraid to face the pressures of war, the humiliation and the fact of losing “everything”. This man was an average person who lived an average life with no problems, until he got the notice about the war, which caused the shame and fear of being seen as a bad person to come out.

    At this point it is apparent war causes families to tear apart, but the authors also show that war can cause clashes between generations as well. One example of clashing is when Sam and Mr. Beach are at odds during the argument involving Sam and Father. In the beginning of the book the difference between Father and Sam is very evident. He is a boy of sixteen arguing with his father, but the argument of war isn’t just between families, it is also between generations. In chapter one, Mr. Beach, the town’s Anglican minister, also has his opinion on war that discriminates the new generation, “I think men of common sense will prevail. Nobody wants rebellion except fools and hotheads.” (Collier and Collier, 6). Sam goes on to argue with Mr. Beach, “That’s not what they say in New Haven, sir. They say that the whole colony of Massachusetts is ready to fight and if Massachusetts fights, Connecticut will

Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulson is a magnificent book that shows the true horrors of war. The heart felt story about a young boy named Charley at the beginning he was excited about the war, he went as far as to lie about his age to get in.

It presents the readers the tragical reality of losing someone at any time during the war. “Ted Lavender, who was a scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside of the village of Than

223 years ago, an innocent, ten-year-old boy died on a prison ship. His name was Jerry Sanford and he lived with Captain Starr, a local Patriot. The day Jerry was captured, British troops raided the only home he had ever known and killed several of his friends including his guardian, Daniel Starr. In My Brother Sam Is Dead, one of Jerry’s friends was a boy named Tim Meeker. He was not killed the day of the attack on Starr’s house, but witnessed the deaths from behind a rock. In the story, Tim has a brother: Samuel Meeker. He was a Patriot soldier fighting in the American Revolution for freedom, rights, and glory. Sam and Tim’s parents, however, were loyal to the British Crown and disapproved of their son fighting with the rebels. In My Brother Sam Is Dead, although both sides of the war are shown, authors James and Christopher Collier ultimately argue that war is futile.

Lawrence Michael – “Amazingly readable narrative. Mr. Martin puts the reader into the worn rags and shoeless feet of the private soldier of the continental line of the War for American Independence.”

Two northern boys in the novels, “Soldier’s Heart,” and “The Red Badge of Courage,” suffer through the journey and hardships, loss of loved ones, and war. The contrasts in these works are few, however the variances in stories minister support in helping each book to stand out, and separate from the other. The similarities between books are uncanny, so similar, in fact that throughout the duration of the novels differentiating the novels becomes increasingly problematic for the reader. Also, the similarities concerning the two books “Soldier’s Heart” and “The Red Badge of Courage” aid the reader in understanding the mind-set of a soldier during a war. The comparisons and differences of the

    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.

Even though the soldiers join the war as naive youths, the war rapidly changes them and they develop into young men. Surrounded by death, the boys are bound to foresee the fragility of their own lives and are stripped of the carelessness and brazenness of youth. The dreadful horrors around the boys bound them to consider a world that does not accommodate to their childish and simplistic view. They want to only see a separation between what is right and what is wrong, they instead find moral doubt. Where they had wanted to see order and meaning, they only found senselessness and disorder. Where they wanted to find heroism, they only found the selfish instinct of self-preservation. These realizations destroyed the innocence of the boys, maturing and thrusting them into their manhood.

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.

was not the truth. This book showed the harsh reality of war that most people