A Literary Analysis Of 'My Brother Sam Is Dead'

War can be a very stressful thing. Not only for the people fighting, but for those close to and around them. One way the authors of My Brother Sam is Dead argue and show that they disagree with the war is that it divides and separates families. Another way they show it is that the sides are divided by principles and reality. The last way they show that they disagree is that the war is a clash of generations. There are many perspectives of war, like how they should be fought, or if people think it’s the way to solve things, but many argue against and disagree with war for many reasons.

One of the ways the authors argue and disagree with the war is that it divides families. For example, it divided Sam and his dad, Life. “Go Sam. Go. Get out of my sight. I can’t bear to look at you anymore in that vile costume. Get out. And don’t come back until you come dressed as my son, not as a stranger,” which

is what Life said to Sam (Collier and Collier 22). Life was telling Sam that he was a stranger to him because of the side he was on and who he was helping, which divided them. Another way they showed it divided families was when Tim left his mom to go save Sam at night, and his mom just sat there and asked if he was going to get himself killed. He was angry and bitter while she was just upset and sorrowful, which divided them. How they lastly showed division of families was that Sam was out joining the rebellion, fighting in the war, and going hungry while Tim was at home with his father, Life, tending to all of his chores, and then some after Life was captured and sent to a prison ship, a Tory prison ship, where he later died. Tim never chose a side and never argued with Sam on which side was better, but it separated them none the less. But family separation wasn’t the only way the war was a terrible thing.

Another way the authors showed that they disagreed with the war was the clash of generations. Like Sam and Life for example. “Yale students did rush away to get weapons and join the war in 1775,” the authors stated when they explained how much of the book was true (Collier and Collier 214). Yale students then, like Sam, were around the age of 16, so they were pretty young. And another example of someone young involved somehow in the war was Jerry Sanford. He wasn’t fighting in battles or anything, but he was involved with people who were on the Patriots side, so he died in a prison ship, like Life. Even Sam’s girlfriend, Betsey Reed, was young, and she was involved with the Patriots too. Yes, there were some older men, like Mr. Heron, who were on the Patriots side, but it was mainly younger vs. older in the war. There are other arguments the authors put in there where it was one side versus another.

One of the final ways the authors showed they were against the war was that along with the one side versus another, was the people’s principles vs.

others realities. A lot of the Patriots weren’t fighting the war because of the taxes, but because of the principle behind having to pay taxes to the king. “Oh God, Sam fight? Is it worth war to save a few pence in taxes?’ said Life to Sam. ‘It’s not the money, it’s the principle,” which shows that even Sam knows it’s about the principle, not taxes (Collier and Collier 21). Even Sam’s own death was because of his principle, because if he hadn’t joined the war he wouldn’t have been blamed for the cattle robbing, which could have saved his life. An example of realities was Mr. Meeker. He thought that in reality the war was ridiculous and the Patriots would lose and half would die. He was wrong, but he never lived to see it. Also, after losing her husband and her son, Mrs. Meeker would not serve any officers in the tavern again, which is a reality. War is always one side against another, but what those sides are may

vary.
People choose the many sides of war, whether they like it or not. The authors argued against war, and showed it in the book. They showed it by the clash of generations, the division of families, and people’s principles versus their reality. There are many reasons to be against war, but these were the big ones the authors chose to show through the book.