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My Brother Sam Is Dead By John Collier

1024 Words5 Pages

Against The War 1775 “Have you ever seen a dear friend lying in the grass with the top of his skull off and his brains sliding out of them like wet oats?,” The authors of the book “My Brother Sam Is Dead” believe that they are against war. They clearly state reasons why they are against war. The book shows how war divides loyalties within a family. It also shows how war cause huge arguments of generation and the principles versus reality as well. In this book, although both sides of the war are shown, author's Collier and Collier ultimately argue that war is futile. In this book a reader can simply tell that the divided loyalties between the families are pretty tense, and it's all because of the war. Sam and his father, Eliphalet also known …show more content…

Reality. This shows the irony of the book. One is Ned's beheading. Now we know that they were cruel towards slaves but some readers didn't know that they would be head Ned for protecting his owner by shooting.”Ned’s head jumped off his body and popped into the air” (Collier and Collier 145). It all happened so quick. Someone would have thought that they would have put him in a prison ship and send him to be another's slave and work harder. Father’s Death was also unexpected. He was captured by the cowboys and accidentally got put on a british ship. He got mixed up with the patriots and that's why he got put on a british prison. On these british prison ships there was a lot of diseases. Tim states“ In June of that year , 1777, we found out that Father was dead”(Collier and Collier 164). This is one of the most straightforward sentences I have ever read but it gets straight to the point . Another tragic event was when Sam dies. We all expected for sam to be killed in war, not to be executed for stealing his own cattle. He was shot and accidentally was caught on fire. “... and at that moment Sam slammed backwards as if he'd been knocked over by a mallet.” (Collier and Collier 208). Tim chose to watch him get shot and claimed the body afterwards. As you see they had a lot of things that someone would have expected to happen one way and it happened a totally another

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1281 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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534 Words | 3 Pages

These events shape the audiences response to the novel and manipulate how we perceive these issues. Figurative language has been used in this text to portray the horrific scenes depicted in the prologue. Fellows’ most gruesome experience is illustrated through similes which enables the reader to visualise the horrid experience. He explains how the “wound opened up like a flower… worm-like creatures oozing and wriggling out of it like spaghetti” which compares this unthinkable experience to items we are more familiar with. By incorporating this simile, Fellows is able to manipulate the audience into being shocked and disgusted by the conditions of this prison.

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845 Words | 4 Pages

In the book,My Brother Sam is Dead, there are two main people with opposite views on the revolutionary war. Tim, Sams brother, and their father Life. Sam has decided to fight for the American army, but his tory father disapproves. Life has had experience with war and has an idea of what will happen. In his mind the outlook is a dead son, a huge debt, and a lot of tears.

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346 Words | 2 Pages

In the historical fiction novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, Tim learns that no matter what side of war you are on it is still bloody and horrid and should be avoided. In the exposition of the novel, Tim Meeker, is a tweenaged boy who is a hard working boy caught in the middle of the American Revolution. As the conflict develops, Tim faces the challenge of surviving the war and staying out of trouble while still trying to decide what side of the war he was on. In the rising action of the story, Tim Meeker, watches his brother, Sam Meeker, announce that he left college and signed up to fight in the war on the patriots side.

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1366 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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666 Words | 3 Pages

The Essence of Betrayal The American Revolution was a war of principles fought between the loyalists who believed in neutrality, peaceful negotiation, against treason, and against loss of land. The patriots believed in freedom, the right to bear arms, freedom of religion, and the power to peacefully assemble. In the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead written by James and Christopher Collier show how it was back at this time in the American Revolution and all the sacrifices that were made for this country. James and Christopher Collier use My Brother Sam is Dead to influence the hardship and pain and loss of war. Irony convinces Tim to take a neutral stance toward war because of the senseless brutality against Life, Jerry, and Sam.

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492 Words | 2 Pages

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. In My Brother Sam Is Dead there is a lot of conflict in families during the war which leads into divided families. In the book

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807 Words | 4 Pages

Ned was a poor African American slave who got beheaded

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779 Words | 4 Pages

With all of the problems in our society, war is the most talked about dilemma in our messed up world. War could be both good and bad depending on a person’s view about it. War has some good objectives like erasing injustice and ending tyranny. If you think about it, there are also negative objectives, like how brutal war can be, or all of the innocent lives that are lost. In the book, My Brother Sam is Dead it explains how it may be like during the Revolutionary War, threw the eyes of a boy named Tim.

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910 Words | 4 Pages

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

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844 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

All the terrible and inhuman things that Douglass describes are the practical and usual things that happened in his time, they are not extraordinary. His true stories and multiple details from his life give the reader an idea about the effects of slavery on the life of different people in the

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575 Words | 3 Pages

From eating out of pig troughs to receiving deathly slashes to the back for even the slightest mistake. Douglass set out to expose the horrendous truths of slavery by writing this eye-opening novel. Imagine how many realizations came to the light when this novel set out to the world. So many hearts were broken and appalled. One could not fathom at just how cruel and sick the human mind

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916 Words | 4 Pages

War is one of the most controversial and fascinating aspects of human life, which includes sacrifice, argument, and worst of all human death. The argument of war is whether or not the sacrifice of human life is necessary or not. The authors of My Brother Sam Is Dead are totally against war; they are neutral and they give Tim the same idea as them in the novel. They even show the irony and cruelty of war in the book by the punishing and ironic deaths of Ned, Sam, and Life. This novel is based in Redding, Conneticut during the time of the Revolutionary War.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

Life as a convict at Port Arthur was neither easy or pleasant. Getting to Port Arthur was difficult, the journey from England was long and hard, some men didn't make the trip. The food they had to eat and the clothes they were made to wear was a punishment within itself. It was hard to get through one day in the jail let alone years for some. The punishments inflicted were harsh and cruel and were a high part of convict life.

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