My Brother Sam Is Dead

My Brother Sam Is Dead

Jason Masterson
My Brother Sam Is Dead
By: Christopher Collier & James Lincoln Collier

My Brother Sam is Dead begins in 1775, when the New England colonies were just beginning to join forces in rebellion against their ruler. Since their founding, the colonies had paid taxes to the king of England, retained many British customs, and often followed the Anglican religion. This novel is about a family torn apart by war. It is the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the tension is building both on the battlefield and at home. Tim Meeker, a common farm-boy, has an older brother, Sam, which he has always looked up to. However, one day Sam and his father, Mr. Meeker, get into an argument about the war that is raging on. Both of their tempers flare and consequently Sam leaves home and joins the Patriots to fight the oncoming British troops. His father greatly disapproves of Sam's actions because he is a Loyalist and doesn't feel that his son should be fighting the British. Sam feels that he has the right to fight for his freedom and that he should be able to make his own decisions because he is a grown man of sixteen years. In the meantime Tim, who loves both his father and Sam dearly, is torn between whose side he is on in the matter.
Tim Meeker is the younger of the two boys. He is frightened of his father, who is a loyalist and owner of a tavern. This fear is balanced and at times outweighed by Tim's adoration of his older brother Sam, who is everything Tim wants to grow up to be. Throughout the novel, Tim considers the opposing influences of his brother and father. Tim is a clever, hard-working, and respectful boy, and he often takes quiet, intelligent paths through trying situations, as opposed to his father and brother, who both are more dominant and tend to but heads. Tim respects and loves his father and tries to please him by obeying him but finds it hard because Sam rebels and fights against the British against his father words and moves out. Tim...