My Brother Sam Is Dead Analysis

Most people think of war as something great which brings freedom, but most people haven’t actually experienced war. They have not seen the brutal killings. They have not seen the destruction and killings of lives and families. In My Brother Sam is Dead, by brothers Collier and Collier, these horrors are clearly shown throughout the story. It tells the other side of the Revolutionary War that is not usually told. The novel teaches how war causes conflicts and division of families, the unnecessary brutal killings, and questions principles versus the reality of war. In My Brother Sam is Dead, although both sides of the war are shown, Collier and Collier ultimately argue that war is futile. One way the authors argue against war is the conflicts

The worst of the killings are the ones that happen to innocent people. For example, a little boy named Jerry Sanford is captured with Mr. Rogers and Captain Betts and taken on a British ship. Jerry was only ten years old and didn’t know what the war was about. He was only a Patriot because of his father. Betsy Read states, “ You can understand why they took Mr. Rogers or Captain Betts but why imprison a ten year old boy?” Ned was an African American slave. One day Ned came running to report that the British were coming. Soon later, the British stormed into Ned’s Master’s house and started shooting. Tim saw something horrible. Ned’s head had been sliced strait off his body. “The sword flashed in a bright arc, the fastest thing I ever saw move. Ned’s head jumped off his body and popped into the air.” Father had been captured by cowboys. Father was a British and the cowboys were Patriots. The cowboys took him to a Patriot ship. He then got transferred to a British ship. Here, Father died of an illness that was being spread throughout the whole ship. How ironic, Father died by his own kind. “ Later we found out that father died. He’d been dead for a month.” Brutal killings brought great struggles and principles versus