Book Analysis: My Brother Sam Is Dead

My Brother Sam Is Dead Essay Since the American Revolution, one million, one hundred thousand people have been killed while serving in the United States armed forces. Many wars could have been resolved without conflict, including the American Revolution. My Brother Sam Is Dead, written by Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier, is set during the time and place of the Revolutionary War. Throughout the book, the two authors made various points on war. In the end, readers can conclude because of the text, that war is vain. The authors prove through their writing that war can be unfair. For example, Tim Meeker, the narrator asks,”Jerry? He is dead?” While his mom replies,”Nobody understands it. They put him on a prison ship, and he got sick and he died within three weeks” (Collier and Collier 166). Tim, presumably about twelve, had his best friend Jerry

When Jerry Sanford is captured, Tim’s mother says”They put him on a prison ship and he got sick and died within three weeks...They sunk his body in Long Island Sound in a weighted sack, so his parents can not even get him back (Collier and Collier 166). The way Jerry, a ten-year-old boy, dies is horrific. During the skirmish Tim witnessed, he saw the beheading of a Negro Patriot soldier, Ned. Tim watched as “He slid his sword into Ned’s stomach, and jerked it free...Ned’s head jumped of his body and popped into the air (Collier and Collier 144).” This scene that Tim witnessed is equally disgusting. After discussing Jerry’s death, Betsy Read, Sam’s girlfriend, lists everyone who had been killed by the war. Your father is dead. Jeremiah Sanford is dead, Sam Barlow is dead, David Fairchild is dead, Stephen Fairchild is wounded, and more,” she said (Collier and Collier 167). All the people Betsy knew, and many were dead because of the war. These scenes are gruesome, and they are all the result of