My Brother Sam Is Dead By Christopher Collier

The American Revolution was a brutal war of principles fought between the Loyalists and Patriots. For example, the Loyalists believed in neutrality and peaceful negotiation; Loyalists were also against treason and the brutality of war. The Loyalists feared loss of land, wealth, and mob rule if they did not obey the kings rules. However, the Patriots believed in the rights of freedom, government, bearing arms, religion, assembly, speech, protesting etc. The Patriots fought for independence because they thought the king treated them unfairly. In the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead written by James Lincoln and Christopher Collier, a family feuds over what side is right: Loyalists or Patriots. James Lincoln and Christopher Collier use the ironies

For example, Tim discovered that his father had been captured by Cowboys on their way home from Verplanks Point trading cattle for supplies to run the tavern. However, Tim and his family learn that “‘In June of that year, 1777, we found out father was dead...There was one funny thing about it though, -- it wasn’t a Rebel prison ship, it was a British one”’(164). Tim expected his father to die by the Cowboys because his father had been threatened before by them, and the Cowboys were known for stealing cattle from traders. However, despite what Tim expects his father was killed by the Loyalists, the side he supported all of his life, and Tim feels inconsolable. From his father’s death, Tim sadly learned that loyalty, trust, and devotion are not valued or rewarded. Tim believes that people should not be loyal to a side that is underhanded in return. Tim’s final decision was to join the neutral side because he learns the Loyalists are deceptive, brutal, hypocrites, who kill innocent people for no reason at

For instance, British soldiers had shown up to Redding and started a fusillade between themselves and the citizens of Redding. Tim was ordered to head to Dr. Hobart’s house by Mr. Read because a man had been dreadfully wounded. While Tim was on his way to Dr. Hobart’s house on foot and running through the fusillade, he came across to Ned’s home to find that British soldiers were physically assaulting Ned and his family: “‘I could see Ned swivel away from the window where he crouched attempting to swing his rifle around to get in a shot at the officer. But the officer was quicker. He slid his sword into Ned’s stomach, and then jerked it free. Ned staggered around, still raising his gun up for the shot. The sword flashed in a bright arc, the fastest thing I ever saw move. Ned’s head jumped off his body and popped into the air”’(144-145). Tim expects that many Redding citizens will lose their lives that day because of the British soldiers and he was taken by surprise when he saw Ned and his family murdered by the British soldiers because of their skin color. Tim is upset because he witnessed his friend and his friends’ family be gruesomely slaughtered because of their skin color, although Tim knew Ned and his family were innocent people and they shouldn’t have been murdered because the British soldiers decided to behave racist towards them. This example of Ned’s death changes Tim’s decision to be on the neutral