Symbolism In My Brother Sam Is Dead

War brings death and destruction, merciless slaughter and butchery, disease and starvation, poverty and ruin in its wake. Although war may not always be the first answer or the most beneficial, it is an inescapable evil because war has brought the world peace and prosperity, while banding people together to fight for a cause. It leads to national growth and solves domestic problems between countries; Injustice and tyranny can be quelled as the aftereffect of war. On the contrary, war includes loss of human life, the spread of diseases, and induces a feeling of anxiety and dismay among communities. The brutal sacrifices that innocent people undergo may not be worth the outcome. In My Brother Sam is Dead, written by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, Tim must choose whether to be a Patriot, a Loyalist, or neutral. The reality of war and the inhumane acts that

When the British soldiers come marching down the street, they walk into Samuel Smith’s house. While Tim watches, they kill Ned: “Ned’s head jumped off his body and popped into the air” (145). The injustice and discrimination Tim witnesses causes him to take neither a Patriot nor Loyalist view, but neutral. The British soldiers show no mercy on Ned as they shout, “ ‘There are some damned blacks in here, what shall we do with them?’ ‘Kill them’ ” (144). It is ironic that the purpose of the war is to fight +for freedom, yet there is still racism present. The soldiers fighting in the war are only fighting for the freedom of rich, white men. The way Ned is being treated shows misuse of power, discrimination toward blacks, and injustice towards civilians. This sways Tim to become neutral because of the cruelty and disgust shown toward Ned. Tim ultimately realizes that he doesn’t want to stand for either side because of the violent and shameful way they treated