My Brother Sam Is Dead

“Mother always said, ‘Sam isn’t really rebellious, just too quick with his tongue. If only he’d learn to stop and think before he spoke.’ But Sam couldn’t seem to learn that.”

Mother makes an excuse for Sam’s rash statements. She “always” says this, and it implies that Sam often speaks without thinking, regardless of the consequences. It foreshadows the fact that Sam will get into arguments that he will later regret and puts himself and others into danger. Tim’s comments show that despite being the younger brother, he understands Sam perhaps better than Sam understands himself.

“I was at Louisbourg the year before you were born. Oh, it was a great victory. They celebrated it with bonfires all over the colonies. And I carried my best friend’s body back to his mother—sewed up in a sack. Do you want to come home that way?”

Father served in the British Army during the French and Indian War years before the book opens. As a veteran, he knows first-hand what battle is like. When he calls the Battle of Louisbourg a “great victory,” he is speaking ironically. The British did win the battle, but in Father’s mind, the cost was too great. He does not want to lose Sam or have him deluded by glorification of the war.

“Father had his head down on the table, and he was crying. I’d never seen him cry before in my whole life; and I knew bad times were coming.”

The authors develop Father’s character by showing him saddened and vulnerable at the thought of losing his son. Father is heartbroken that Sam has run off after their argument. Tim has never seen his father cry before, and he knows that this is very serious. Father’s tears foreshadow The Impact of War on Families.

“Over at Redding Center there was a Presbyterian Church; naturally if you were a Presbyterian, you built your house over there, and if you were an Anglican, you built your house here on the ridge.”

The description of Redding as a religiously divided community suggests that the community may be divided in other ways as well. In general, people who attended the Anglican Church were more likely to be Tories, or Loyalists. The Presbyterians, with their roots in Scotland, were more likely to be Patriots, or Rebels. The authors use divisions within Redding to symbolize the division within the colonies. Fewer than half the people living in the British colonies were in favor of the war.

“What kept confusing me about it was the argument didn’t have two sides the way an argument should, but about six sides.”

Tim is confused about the war and who to believe. His statement reveals how complicated the arguments over independence are. The authors use his childlike perspective to convey simple truths about an issue. His perspective also reveals how carefully and judiciously Tim listens to the arguments swirling around him. Whereas Sam only sees one side to an argument, Tim can see many sides, making it difficult for him to decide where he stands.

“But you should be willing to die for your principles.”

Sam believes that principles are worth dying for, although it is clear that he is also more interested in the glorification of the cause than in the reality of war. He has not thought through what fighting a long, terrible war will do to himself or his family. His statement introduces the thematic idea of Loyalty to a Cause. For him, the idea of freedom outweighs all other considerations. The authors use Sam’s conviction to represent one side of the argument over whether the colonies should go to war.

“The war had finally come to Redding, and it was terrible.”

The authors use statements such as this one to mark the passage of time, as well as to thematically emphasize the realities of war as opposed to the glorification. For the civilians of Redding, the war does not mean glory but hunger, loss, and fear.

“How could I not go when all my friends were going?”

In this statement, Sam shows that peer pressure has influenced his decision to join the Continental Army. He has joined the army because his friends have done so. His statement is also ironic because it is fellow soldiers who ultimately frame him for cattle thievery, a crime for which he is executed.

“Your family ought to be more important than your friends!”

The authors again explore Loyalty to a Cause; Tim’s response to Sam concerning his loyalties demonstrate that Tim has a more certain understand of the family than does his older brother. He realizes that Sam’s enlistment can be the ruination of the Meeker family. His words foreshadow Sam’s loss.

“Sometimes soldiers would just take a couple of cows out of somebody’s fields without paying for them, too. Both sides did it—The Patriots and the Tories.”

The Collier brothers aim to show an unbiased view of the American Revolutionary War, debunking many common myths. Here they demonstrate that both sides were starving and that both sides engaged in thievery and violence against the citizenry.

“You think that because you’re only a child they won’t hurt you, but they will. They’ve been killing children in this war. They don’t care. They’ll throw you in a prison ship and let you rot.”

Father utters this statement when he forbids Tim to deliver messages for Mr. Heron. The statement foreshadows the fact that both Tim’s 10-year-old friend and Father are taken by the British and thrown in prison ships. Both die there.

“It made me feel proud of myself for being a man while they were still children.”

On the way to Verplancks Point, Tim drives the oxen past some children. The authors employ dramatic irony here; little does Tim know that pretending to be an adult is nothing like actually being an adult. These are Tim’s last few days of being a child playing at adulthood. On the return trip, he must grow up suddenly.

“‘Please don’t shoot him,’ I shouted. ‘Please.’”

Tim pleads with cowboys to not kill his father on the trip to Verplancks Point. These words foreshadow Sam’s execution when Tim will scream the same words at the firing squad. In neither case does his plea make a difference. In the first, the cowboys are indifferent to the child, and in the second, the firing squad has its orders.

“Going back would be easy with only the wagon full of goods to watch over.”

Tim believes that without the cattle, the return trip home will be easy. His statement, however, is an example of ironic foreshadowing. The wagon full of goods makes Father and Tim more vulnerable to danger, not less, and the journey is the opposite of what Tim expects.

“But I finally told myself that I had to stop being scared, I had to stop just standing there in the middle of the road.”

Tim’s realization that Father is gone and that he must act immediately represents a turning point for Tim’s coming of age. It is at this moment that he ceases to be a child and begins reasoning like an adult. In addition, the statement is symbolic. Before this moment, Tim has been unable to make decisions about the war, choosing to remain figurately in “the middle of the road.” Now he knows that he must act and make decisions to the best of his knowledge, even if the decision turns out to have negative consequences.

“I felt terrific, because I’d fooled them; it would be a great story to tell Sam. But everything else was awful—Father being gone and me being along in the snow and dark and hours to go before I got home.”

Tim expresses a paradox—two opposite emotions existing at the same time. As an adult he discovers that much of life is paradoxical. Symbolically, being alone in the dark is a statement of what it means to be an adult without a parent to tell him what to do. He must count on himself.

“I’d get angry with the Rebels for starting the war and angry with Sam for going to play soldier and have the glory while I had to do all the work at home. It wasn’t fair.”

After Father’s abduction and death, Tim must assume responsibility for the family. His anger stems from his realization that the war has been glorified to such an extent that Sam chases glory rather than facing the realities of war and its impact on his family. The repetition of the word “angry” suggests that Tim struggles to articulate the complexities of his situation.

“War turns men into beasts.”

Mother says this when Jerry Sanford has been taken by the British. She repeats this statement (with the word “animals” replacing “beasts”) two more times: when she learns Jerry has died and when she tries to free Sam. The “rule of three” is a literary device traditionally used by the authors to emphasize an idea or situation. In this case, the Colliers use it to develop Mother’s character and make a statement on how war can change even good men.

“Bah, patriotism. Your patriotism has got my husband in prison and one of my children out there in the rain and muck shooting people likely to be dead any minute, and my business half ruined. Go sell your patriotism elsewhere.”

When Captain Betts wants Tim to engage in the fighting, Mother steps in and dramatically protests. Her statement sums up The Impact of War Families. The plosive word “[b]ah” suggests that she is spitting the words out bitterly.

“General Putnam is a great and dedicated patriot and he does not take defection from duty lightly.”

The authors allude to General Putnam, a historical figure and one generally considered to be a hero of the American Revolution. It demonstrates that a so-called hero can also make decisions that they know are morally wrong but at the same time necessary. The statement also reveals how a person can hold opposing views at the same time—General Putnam is a patriot, and he is going to execute an innocent man.

“But sometimes I’d come upon her standing all by herself with eyes empty and staring and a little glass of rum in her hands.”

Tim offers this visual image of his mother to indicate changes in her that worry him. Having lost first her husband, and now dealing with the certainty that she will also lose Sam, Mother has given up hope in life. The authors represent this through the “glass of rum”; Tim points out earlier that rum is the tavern’s most profitable product, yet here Mother clings to it without selling it. The fact that it is “little” suggests that their product offering is now meagre.

“War is hard, boy. Sometimes we do a lot of things we don’t want to do. A lot of very good men have been killed in this war, and all we can do is hope that it’s been worth it.”

Although Colonel Parsons knows that Sam is innocent of the charges that will lead to his execution, he also tells Tim that Sam will indeed be executed because making an example of Sam is important to the big picture of the war. With this statement, the authors reveal the moral ambiguity of war. It is ironic that the death of an innocent man can serve a larger purpose. This statement is loaded with dramatic irony since the characters do not know that they will win the war.

“And I knew it had all been a waste.”

Tim is speaking of his failed plan to help Tim escape. The statement, however, emblematizes the war as a whole. The authors suggests that the waste of human life and resources is too high a cost to pay for independence.