Some people still wonder if war can be justified by its principles or cause. It can be argued that war can be justified due to the principles of freedom and justice that soldiers are willing to die for. However, many argue against this saying that war should be avoided at all costs due to collateral damage and the massive loss of innocent life. In the book My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, Tim faces the biggest dilemma of his life when he has to decide whether to side with his brother who believes in the principles of war or his father who believes war should be avoided at all costs. When the novel comes to a conclusion, Tim decides that he is neutral and does not agree to either argument due to the irony contained within the deaths of
Life is entirely correct, it is ridiculous for Sam to go and get himself killed. Sam should have stayed home in Redding and supported the family. First of all, the family could have had the brown bess, the family gun, and the Continentals (Rebel troops) wouldn’t have attacked them. The text reads, “We know you have a weapon, Meeker. Where is it?”
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.
My Brother Sam is Dead Informative/ Explanatory Essay What would you do if your family got torn apart by war? In the Historic novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, a fifteen year old boy, Tim, has to live with his family getting torn apart by war. Tim comes from a Tory family, and when Sam, Tim’s older brother, joins the Patriots in fighting the Tories, the family is shocked. The authors, James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, convey the message about family values being more important than anything, through the use of different literary elements: Internal conflict, External conflict, and Irony.
The war that was going on caused the Meeker Family and many more to fall apart. Viewpoints of different generations vary from one another, caused the kids to rebel even more. Patriots, the Continental army, thought fighting would be easy as long as they have the spirit. Sure, they had courage, but they thought so little of the redcoats, the most efficient army at the time. Collier and Collier shows they are against war with the opinions of the characters.
War is a conflictive topic because it can be both positive and negative depending on the situation. For example, during the American Revolution, Americans fought a war with Great Britain to gain their independence and freedom. On the other hand, many innocent people were killed because the dead pay the living’s debts. In the novel My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim has to make a decision about which side he believes is right, leaving him caught between his brother and his father. However, in the end, Tim chooses neutrality based on the injustices of Jerry, Sam, and Life’s deaths.
Sam went to join the patriots and fight in the war despite his father's disapproval. The way Sam had been killed was through execution. One night while Sam was visiting Tim and his mother they heard people from the patriot's army stealing cattle for food. Sam chased them while Tim was collecting the cattle they didn't steal. Sam came back with his hands tied behind his back with the cattle thieves behind him framing him for stealing the cattle.
That 's why I think that war is unfair hard and futile. And those are the many reasons why war is all that type of stuff. Then the evidence that shows the clash of generations division of families and principle vs reality. And that 's how it affected families and generations and brutalities and freedom.
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
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.
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.
In the book My Brother Sam is dead, a boy named Tim tells about his family’s life during the Revolutionary War. He lived in a town that was very loyal to King George. His biggest problem though was that his father was a loyalist and his brother, Sam, was joining the war to fight against the British. Who is right? Sam is.
Mr. Patch-Withers grumbled, with a flushed face. ‘How do you expect our boys to be as precise as that thousands of feet up with bombs weighing tons!” (Pg 10 chp.1)In war innocent people will die and you can't do anything about it. In conclusion you now see the theme war is unforgiving by the three reasons war affects friendships, changes lives, and war takes lots of lives. War affected Gene and Finny's relationship, war changed life by having to draft or enlist, war kill lots of people by the bombs and gunfire.
The majority of people during the American Revolution fought for liberty without realizing the actual cost and brutal reality of war. In the novel My Brother Sam is Dead, the Meeker family consisting of a Father name Life, a Mother named Susannah, a rebellious teen named Sam, and a conflicted teen named Tim, journey through the life of colonists owning a tavern during the Revolutionary War. Sam departs from his family to fight alongside the Patriots going against his Father, a Tory. War brings a lot of terrible things, but some examples are families splitting, clash of generation, and an overall theme of principle vs reality. The soldiers who fought in the war thought they were fighting for liberty, when really they caused havoc and awfulness.
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.