The Reality of War War will divide and kill members of a family, as a result of their difference in opinions. In My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James and Christopher Collier, Tim is a victim of this devastating fate. Tim’s father, Life, is loyal to the king because he is scared of losing his family and business. Sam opposes Life because he is a stubborn Patriot, yearning for freedom from the king and his taxes; Sam also yearns for the freedom to speak his opinion, choose his religion, and assemble when he wishes. Tim is in between their fighting confounded on which side to choose, which leads to his final decision. Tim’s ultimate decision is neutrality, due to the ironically tragic deaths of loved ones such as his best friend Jerry, his father …show more content…
He died of Cholera after catching the sickness from another prisoner, then his body was dropped into the ocean with weights so his mother could not bury him. Jerry was innocently captured after Redding was attacked by British soldiers: “‘They let most of us go. They only kept three.’ ‘Is Jerry Sanford all right, sir?’ He shook his head. ‘They kept him. Don’t ask me why they kept a boy’” (148). By taking a child, the soldiers show fear and power to the Patriots. The irony is that the British would take a young boy instead of the adults that could fight in the war. Tim realizes that the Lobsterbacks will do whatever it takes to win the war, even if it comes to killing children instead of adults that will affect the result of the war. This showed Tim how war carelessly throws away lives just to show dominance, leading him to neutrality. Jerry was Tim’s best friend they would go fishing and hang out together when Tim heard Jerry had died he was devastated. Imagine your best friend, that you always hang out with, just one day disappears, that is what Tim is feeling after Jerry’s death. It was especially devastating that he was killed for such a horrible reason keeping him away from the Loyalist
In the novel, my brother Sam is dead by James Collier Christopher Collier tim 12 old boy went through many hardships as a novel goes on the story takes place during the revolutionary war in Redding, Connecticut, over the course of time, Tim Gaines, his bravery, to face other battles. at the beginning of the book Tim started to whine like a little boy when Sam told him about stealing fathers brown bess. Tim begins to freak out, Samuel, that him for whining, and Betsy, Reid was backing him up after Sam yelled at him temp I felt as he was, he was going to cry. Tim ran home once he started to cry this example shows Tim with no bravery by instead of taking in all of this.
MY BOOK PROJECT I read the book “My brother Sam is dead” that was wrote by the Author James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. It is a Historical Fiction book wrote during the American Revolutionary war. This book is about a boy named Timothy Meeker that lived in Connecticut. Tim's father is a Loyalist at great Britain but Sam (Tim’s older teenage brother) came home from Yale and announced that he joined the Continental Army to fight against the British. His Father was outraged and yelled and fought with him like they normally did and Sam ran away and hid in a little hut for a little while.
My Brother Sam is Dead Sam and his father were very different in terms of how they wanted their country to be ran. Sam was a Patriot and his father was a Loyalist. A Patriot (also known as rebels in the book) were the colonist fighting against Britain for freedom. A Patriot wanted to be free to run their own government how they wanted. They didn't want to be under the rule of a king or queen.
He is a Loyalist and as a Tim’s father he influenced his decision by making Tim believe that he was a Loyalist. He valued human life and believed God’s will was to embrace people. Life had acquired the knowledge of the reality of war. Life told Sam and Tim, “... I carried my best friend’s body back to his mother… Sam, it isn’t worth it” (21).
Tim would have expected Life to be the most safe one of their family due to his loyalty to Britain, but he was captured anyway. The death of Life Meeker makes Tim develop a strong hatred toward the Loyalists due to the fact that they do not value loyalty or care about the innocent, such as this instance. Tis develops Tim’s final decision of neutrality is influenced by Jerry’s death because both the British and Patriots caused the death of the ones he cared most
Not only is the younger generation fighting to prove a point to the elders, but Yale students ran away to fight in the war. As the authors described the reality of the story, they both explain, “Yale students did rush away to get weapons and join the war in 1775” (Collier and Collier 214). The majority of the older generation did not go run to join the fight, but most young teens did. Even though the students think that they were doing something brave or bold, they did not listen to their parents to tell them otherwise.
Tim Meeker’s family has been split up as a result of the war because Tim’s father is a loyalist while his brother, who he looks up to, enrolls in the war as a Patriot. Tim has to grow up through the novel and he has to decide for himself
There was no sense of morality or politics or duty. Tim completed what he was trained to do, and that was to defend the camp against the enemy. The lone soldier was the enemy. Later Tim views his actions as impulsive and regrets throwing the grenade, despite his peers’ support. Tim declares, “Sometimes I forgive myself, sometimes I don’t.
I went to the war.” (last paragraph 58) This helps us understand that going to war was not an accomplishment for Tim. He regretted not running away and hated that he went.
If he does not conform, he will lose everything including his personal beliefs, on the contrary, if he does conform he risks his life. Conforming in any way, shape or form has consequences, usually ending with losing something. Tim realizes this when he has to chose between himself and others. This could also be a form of peer pressure. Tim has a desire to live a normal life; work and play, a family someday,
Like any other war, much of the damage and casualties resulted from civilian deaths when the raging armies swept through the colonies. The Loyalists- those who supported Great Britain and King George- and the Patriots- those who supported the principles of freedom and independence- alike were both hurt, killed, imprisoned, or otherwise dragged into the war, even when they did not join the army for either side. The Collier brothers use various instances of deaths throughout the storyline of My Brother Sam is Dead to show how the injustices and violences of war inherently manifest themselves. The irony of Jerry Sanford, Eliphalet Meeker, and Samuel Meeker’s deaths ultimately induce Tim to make the decision to remain neutral for the duration of the American Revolution.
When Tim first got the draft letter in the mail he was unsure of what to think and thought “[he] was too good for this war”(P.39), so fleeing to the Rainy River would give him a break to truly listen and connect with his body and make a decision. Although there was a moment in the story when he wanted to go to Canada and be able to see freedom for the first time in a long time it also “separated one life from another. ”(P.45) The separation between his two lives was the breaking points the made him realize what his choice had to be; however, he didn't fully understand what his choice was until he was on the boat with Elroy Berdahl, the owner. Without Elroy having to say anything he realized that going to fight in the war would be the best thing for himself and everyone around him, as a result, that was how he was influenced to go to the war instead of
My Brother Sam Is Dead Chapter 1: Page 1-22 Sam is Tim Meeker 's older brother. Tim always looks up to his older brother. Sam then comes home in a uniform at the tavern during April. He starts out by saying "We 've beaten the British in Massachusetts," which sparks up a fight between him and his father which is a loyalist (someone who respects the government and the king). Sam has a discussion with the guests at their tavern and his family on how the Minutemen had surprise attack on the "Lobster backs" (the British) in Lexington.
In “On the Rainy River” Tim struggles to make a decision on whether he should fight for his country in the war or flee to Canada. Tim did not believe in the war. He was an innocent young man, freshly graduated from college with a naive view of the world. “Both my conscience and my instincts were telling me to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop.” (Page 3/Paragraph 8)
The societal and social pressures weighing on Tim’s mind were explained well in paragraph 28, “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war.” With Tim’s extreme isolation, it was no surprise that these pressures could manifest in unusual ways. Towards the end of the short, Tim imagines a situation in which his family, friends, strangers, and prominent social figures were yelling at him from the Canadian shore. The societal isolation influenced who was there and what they were yelling. No card burning protesters were there to cheer him on, possibly because a week without the media pushed those memories aside.