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My Brother Sam Is Dead Character Analysis

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Man’s Worst Angel
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.
War is unfair. It is a terrible reality that is faced in almost all lives. In the novel there are many points of unfairness, but a few stand out. Sam’s death is the most unjust circumstance in the book. He is with his mother and brother when cattle thieves butcher their beef. Then they framed Sam, “ You see what the problem is, Tim. Those two men who brought him in have sworn it was Sam who stole the animals.“(Collier and Collier 188) They accused him, his own army, of stealing his cattle and got executed without a fair trial. He was shot three times in front of his brother and all the people who came to the execution. As well as Sam’s death there was his Father’s …show more content…

Both sides are disgusting, both sides are flawed. The British killed little Jerry Sanford, and poor Ned the slave. The Patriots killed Sam and Life. They are all terrible deaths, but those who watched them die truly know the gruesome truth of war. “Have you ever looked into the eyes of a man with his throat cut and the blood pouring out between his fingers…” a quote from Mr.Meeker (Collier and Collier 21). Tim knows, he lost half of his small family because of it. The men who lose limbs or are injured badly are reminded of how painful and vile it was every day of their lives. The men who survive have no shoes or food, and travel in the snow and mud of the winter. These men fight for glory, but dying are for food, they now know the true reality of

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