War's Harsh Price: A Family's Division

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War Is Terrible “Principle, Sam? You may know principle, Sam, but I know war.... It isn’t worth it.” (collier and collier 21) In the book My Brother Sam is Dead, by James and Christopher Collier, Sam, a fiery rebellious college student, wants and later goes to fight against the british for freedom. Mr. Meeker, Sam's father, on the other hand, has experienced war before and knows it is bad. Tim, the narrator, is torn between sides and later in the story decides that neither side is right. Those who pursue war may not realize all the terrible things that come with it. In war there are a lot of bad things that happen to the people who fight in them, like division in families, clash of generations and the disadvantages of war. Division in families is one effect of war, it causes families to suffer from loss and from disagreement over which side is better. For example in My Brother Sam is Dead, Sam and father had a dispute over the disadvantages of war. “Oh God, Sam fight? Is it worth war to save a few pence in taxes?”(Collier and Collier 21) Father is telling Sam that he wants to fight just because of a couple taxes. This fight causes Sam to go to war and not want to …show more content…

Many people fight in wars and many are lost because of it, and in the book Sam fights for the patriot side. Father tries to warn him about the disadvantages of war but he does not listen. Later, Sam pays the price with his life for being in the war. He sacrifices his life for a cause that could easily be resolved with England without a war. Also, according to Sam, “There’s a lot you do not understand. All of us have seen good friends killed.” (collier and collier 172). This is directly saying that war brings to lots of good people terrible things. And then to the people who are friends or a family members of those people who die it is a major loss. In the end, war brings a lot of bad things like death and

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