Irony In My Brother Sam Is Dead

In My Brother Sam Is Dead, although both sides of war are shown, author's Collier and Collier ultimately argue that war is futile. My Brother Sam is Dead is based on details that the Collier brothers wrote. The novel takes place in Redding Ridge, Connecticut. Sam and father have different views on the war. Sam, the older of two sons, is in the Continental Army. Yet father is a loyalist. Tim the narrator doesn't really know who to side with cause they both sound right, but at the end the doesn’t agree with any cause he realized that war is wrong. War causes too many problems as explained by the Collier brothers.

War is one of the most violent and primitive things ever done by man. In “My Brother Sam is Dead” by Collier and Collier, war is the focus point in the novel. The main characters consist of: Sam, Tim, and Mr.Meeker. Mr. Meeker is Sam and Tim’s father, and has certain views on politics that Sam doesn’t agree with, while Tim is unsure. Tim is torn between the gruesome realities of war and the fantasy of glory Sam is in love with. The reality of war is vain in many ways.

Then the clash of generations like adults and teens students and adults then children and parents.like adults and sam how the adults want to stay there in peaceIn My Brother Sam Is Dead although both sides of war are shown author 's collier and collier ultimately argue that war is unfair and hard.Like In the war it affected families and tore them apart.they also clash with generations like with adults and tennagers.then principals vs reallity principals as in sam fighting for freedom and reallity like all the horrible deaths.this is the kind of stuff that hapened in My Brother Sam Is Dead whille the revoloutionary war.

Back during the Revolutionary War, families were divided and many people were trying to decide one question. Should they join the side of the Patriots, Loyalists, or remain neutral? War can be a brutal, violent, and cruel way of achieving power or freedom; and in the process, many lives are lost. However, sometimes war is necessary as it helps get rid of tyranny and injustice. In the book My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, a boy named Tim Meeker lives in a family where his father is a Loyalist, and his dear brother is a Patriot. Throughout the book, Tim tries to decide what side he is on; then, after a few deaths of people close to him, he decides to remain neutral and oppose war. In My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim makes his decision to remain neutral after the ironic, cruel deaths of Life Meeker, Jerry Sanford, and Sam Meeker.

War. It divides to conquer? Ending in triumph, or does it leave us broken? Who’s to say, it can do both. It all depends on the war itself. War is about principles. It can be used to end injustice, tyranny, or both. It can band people together to form a bond that is unbreakable, all fighting for the same cause. But that bond can have a high price. War kills soldiers, tearing them from family; it kills innocent people, just trying to survive. People are brutal, whether it be a harsh commander with deathly penalties, or even a rude soldier, demanding supplies or a roof from a civilian. Many think war is not the only way, there can be a peaceful solution. Two such people are the authors of My Brother Sam is Dead, James and Christopher Collier. They show this belief through the life of Tim Meeker, who struggles to decide who to side with, his brother, Sam, or his father. The ironic and horrible deaths of Jerry, Ned, and his own brother, Sam, eventually force Tim to choose neutrality.

The world has been prospering from war for a long time. But, we do not always see the problems it causes. For instance, it tears families apart, it clashes generations, and finally it shows us principal versus reality. So, if war brings more bad things than good it defeats the purpose of even having a war in the first place. The authors of My Brother Sam is Dead also feels that war is pointless and unnecessary. War would be considered futile for many reasons including the fact that it splits families up. “Get out. And don’t come back until you come dressed as my son, not as a stranger.” (Collier and Collier 22). This quote from the book is representing how war split the Meeker family up. If it was not for the war Sam and Mr. Meeker would not

Throughout My Brother Sam is Dead the authors shows how reality and principle can be confused in a war time. Many times in My Brother Sam is Dead Sam believes in principle but his father tries to explain wars grim reality. On page twenty-two it states, “Principle, Sam? You may know principle, Sam, but I know war”, (Collier and Collier 21). This quote shows

”Listen. We have to stay together. We have to try to keep each other safe. We are brothers, we are family” (95). With Jacob's words to Norman, after being beaten, we are shown in Sharon E. Mckay’s War Brothers, that war can solidify friendly relationships into a sense of family. Set in Gulu, Uganda Jacob, Paul, and Tony are excited to start a new year at George Jones Seminary for Boys. But that ends when they are awakened by gunshots, and forced to be soldiers by the LRA. However, these boys will do anything to protect their comrades, their family. Mckay uses the title War Brothers to reveal the forged through wars. The development of the relationship between Jacob and Norman shows us that family is more than who you’re related to. Family are those who can be trusted to stand by each other no matter the consequences.

As Herbert Hoover eloquently put it, “Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” War has no mercy. It takes homes, tears families apart, and steals childhoods from innocent people. Such is the case in A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. While people of seniority make all the impactful decisions that have to do with the war, the young boys of Devon School are forced to accept the realities of war and join the fight. In the novel A Separate Peace, Knowles showcases a sinister tone throughout the first pages, when Devon School is described. Using diction and figurative language, Knowles integrates this tone into Gene’s narration.

Throughout human history, war has been a common solution to settle conflict or disagreements between people. War has and will always be apart of this world, because no matter how much death it causes humans will never change. Some people have come to see the idiocy in war and have even written about it in poems, short stories, etc. One of these people, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, has mocked this absurd and pointless practice. Twain’s essay The War Prayer satirizes the customs of praying for safety and victory in war and for equating war with patriotism.

Out of most deaths, it looks like Tim is more impacted by Sam’s than any other. Tim is outraged that Sam is being blamed and punished for something he didn’t do just to discipline the other soldiers.Sam is accused of stealing his own cattle and is sentenced to be executed by his own side; Tim watches the execution full-heartedly, in sadness, and he even yells out during the execution, “ ‘Don’t shoot him, don’t shoot him’ and at that moment Sam slammed backwards as if he was hit by a mallet” (208). Those were Tim’s final words that Sam could here before being blasted. Sam’s passing is as ironic a death you could write for Sam because Tim expected Sam to die, if he were to die in war, in battle and have a glory story with many telling points. Tim’s expectations were not the case; instead Sam dies by being accused incorrectly of stealing his own cattle to teach other troops a lesson about how serious war is. The unecessary death of Sam inspires Tim to go neutral because Sam was not rewarded for valor and had no glory to his name. Tim doesn’t like that or want that so he chooses neither side of the

The reason Sam was executed, stealing his own cattle, was unjustified and unfair. Tim explains, “They were so close the gun muzzles were almost touching Sam’s clothes…. He wasn’t dead yet.He lay there shaking and thrashing about, his knees jerking up and down. They had shot him from so close that his clothes were on fire. He went on jerking with flames on his chest until another soldier shot him again. Then he stopped jerking.”(208). Tim would expect Sam to die by the British, a heroism, brave, courage filled death on the battlefield, but the irony is that in reality he dies a dishonorable death by his own side just like his father. Tim was very upset since Sam, who was innocent, was accused of stealing his own cattle; the generals did not believe Tim’s many proclaims of the truth, war just isn’t fair. Tim now has his final decision of staying neutral for war and has come to these conclusions of war, war isn’t always glorious, it is in fact brutal, senseless, and tears and demolishes

Killing is an action that can never be undone. In the novel War Brothers, Sharon E. Mckay examines the impact of this action. War Brothers is a story about four children fighting for survival after their capture by the LRA. During their time in the LRA, they all learn what the true meaning of family is and how you have to look out for not only yourself but others too. There are three characters in the novel that are impacted in different ways by the choice to kill. While the experiences in the LRA influence Tony, Lizard and Jacob differently, it is the decision related to killing that ultimately impacts the individual the most.

While most certainly brutal and violent, the results of war can be either positive or negative. On one side, countless lives are lost; on the other side, principles are upheld or won, and a new country now has the opportunity to prosper. For instance, the American Revolution. Beginning around 1775 and ending in 1783, the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain and became its own country. growing, prospering, and eventually going on to become the global superpower it is today. 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.

Sometimes internal wars can be fought just as vehemently and result in as many casualties as an external war. John Knowles shows us this in his novel, A Separate Peace. During the time of this story, WW2 rages on, whilst the main character, Gene Forrester, battles his own internal conflicts just as violently.