Tim Meeker's Injustice In My Brother Sam Is Dead

War. Is it a necessary injustice? Does it leave us in triumph or with shattered dreams? War can bring brutality and death to many innocent people, but it can also create unity and result in freedom. The repercussions of war rely on war itself. It can end in peace and victory, or it can cast a shadow of depression over the people involved. War can have many different views to it. In My Brother Sam is Dead, the American Revolution takes place,where you can be risky and fight for the Patriots, a team devoted to freedom and principle, or you can stay safe with the Loyalists, who favor the king and the British government. Though many colonists chose to stay neutral, others found that they agreed with one side more than the other. Tim Meeker, a

The main subject the Patriots stand for is freedom, but, sadly that only applies to white, landowning men. If the Patriots truly believed in freedom they would fight for all races. But, the Patriots are not the only ones discriminating blacks, the British killed innocents simply because of their color: “‘There are some damned blacks in here, what shall we do with them?’ ‘Kill them,’ the officer yelled. He charged through the door waving his sword… Ned's head jumped off his body and into the air. I never saw it fall...I didn’t feel much like being a Tory anymore” (144-145). Just because of his skin, Ned was stabbed and beheaded. Another ironic part of his death is that he was neutral. The hatred and brutality inflicted upon different races is simply unfair and both sides had unreasonable causes for doing what they did. The Loyalist killed many African-Americans and the Patriots excluded a race that desperately needed freedom. Seeing how each side discriminated people because of the color of their skin made it basically impossible to side with either of them. The unfairness of this whole situation horrified Tim into going

Before his father’s death, Tim was torn between the Patriotic views of his brother and his father’s Loyalist opinions, he had no idea which side he agreed with. However, right after the kidnapping of his father, he realized that he considered himself as a Tory. But, months later the remaining members of the Meeker family found out what had happened to father and how he died: “… he’d been sent to a prison ship in New York. there was one funny thing about it, though-it wasn’t a Rebel prison ship, it was a British one” (164). Even though Life was a faithful loyalist, he was not rewarded for it, he was ignored. They didn’t care who was on their ship, they just wanted to win. Tim would expect that the British would try to save their own supporters, not throw them on a prison ship and let them rot away. The support the Loyalists once got from Tim had disappeared. With the Patriots capturing Tim’s father and the the Loyalists allowing him to grow more ill and die on their prison ship, Tim finally understood that neither side would benefit