My Brother Sam Is Dead Paper Essay Example

My Brother Sam Is Dead Paper Essay Example My Brother Sam Is Dead Paper Essay My Brother Sam Is Dead Paper Essay Essay Topic: O Brother Where Meinsen 1 Sydney Meinsen Mrs. Roush English 8, Period 6 6 November 2013 The Wrong Choice Either you live up to your principles or you dont and maybe you have to take a chance on getting killed (34-35). Staying in the army or leaving ones post was one of the many hard decisions soldiers had to make in the army. We see this decision take place in the historical fiction novel My Brother Sam Is Dead, written by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. To begin with, Sam, Tim Meekers brother and mentor, decides to fght as a Patriot in the Revolutionary War. Sams decision causes a huge ilemma in the Meeker household because the family is Loyalists. Loyalists were the people who stayed loyal to the British king, whereas the Patriots wanted to break away from the King. Several months after Father got kidnapped by cowboys, Tim and his mother find out Father has been killed. Around the same time, Sams enlistment term starts coming to an end, which means he has to decide whether or not to do another term. After many arguments with his mother, Sam decides to re-enlist in the war. In the end, due to historical accounts and the novel, Sam should have quit once is term was over because the troops experienced horrible conditions and he had many possibilities of dying. First off, Sam should not re-enlist because the troops experienced horrible conditions. In fact, in the Diary of Dr. Albigence Waldo, he writes in his log dated December 14, 1777, Poor food- hard lodging- Cold Weather- fatigue- Nasty Cloathes- nasty Cookery- Vomit half my Meinsen 2 time- smoakd out of my senses Waldos point is that everything in the camp is horrendous. By highlighting this point, Dr. Albiegence gives a realistic image of how camp would have been, giving the reader a reason to believe that Sam should not ave re-enlisted. In addition, Sam shows the dreadful conditions of camp when he exclaims in a letter, He was living a hard life very short rations, eating Just hardtack and water didnt have proper clothing (87). In making this comment, Sam urges the reader to understand the conditi ons and pain he was put through. By suggesting that Sam is living off of and eating almost nothing, the reader sees that because of short supply and nasty conditions, the troops are pretty much killing themselves by staying in the war. In the long run, the horrific war conditions are not worth it for Sam o reenlist. Furthermore, Sam should not re-enlist because he could die. For example, in the chart The Numbers: Deaths and Illness, it shows, That between 16,000 soldiers that were at Valley Forge between December 1777 and February 1778, approximately 6,887 fell ill and between 1,800 and 2,500 of them died. To put it another way, seven out of every sixteen soldiers became sick and three out of every sixteen soldiers died. Since the chart clearly proves how many peoples health were endangered In war, tne reader can see tnat IT Sam went DacK to war tnere were nlgn hances his health could be seriously affected. Also, another example of how war caused death, is when Sam tells Tim, l had a friend bayoneted, and it took hi m six hours to die, screaming all the while I saw a captain I loved blown in half by a cannon ball (173). Basically, Sam is saying that many people, including his friends, have been killed during the war. Explaining that Sam has seen many men killed helps the reader understand that one could not Just die by illness, but that one can easily be killed in battles. In short, the many examples of killing and death give Sam one ore reason to not re-enlist. Meinsen 3 Although there are many obvious reasons Sam should not re-enlist, some people still think Sam should because the Continental Army needed help. As a matter of fact, they might say they needed help because, as written in The Sunshine Solider: Thomas Paine, The summer solider and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country Saying that the people who only stay when times are good allows the reader to understand that a lot of the soldiers are scared of bad times, or when the British are at their strength. Paines essay alludes to the fact that the Continental Army is scared of the British Army, suggesting that the British have a really powerful army. In all honesty, the British Army was a lot stronger and was more likely going to beat the Americans in the end, so helping the Rebels would have little to no effect on winning the war. As an illustration, when Father tells his family, The Rebels are damn fools, how can they expect to beat the whole British army? They can win these little skirmishes in the woods, but as soon as the British catch them in pitched battle theyll be done for (6465). Father gives the idea that the Rebels will lose in the long run. In other words, Father believes that the Rebels dont stand a chance because the British army is a whole lot stronger than the American army. In any case, no matter what someone says, Sam has no good reason to go re-enlist himself into the army because he will not make much of a difference in whether the Americans win or lose the war. Therefore, based on both the camp conditions and the possibility of dying, it is clear that Sam should not have re-enlisted. By the end of the story, Sam is killed by his own side. He was charged with cattle theft, even though it was his own familys cows he was trying to save. After being heard in court, Sam is sentenced to death. Tim goes and watches his brother get shot to death. As the war ends, Sam looks back and sees how many consequences the war had on his family. From real conflict that Sam faces, which current members of the military face, the reader Meinsen 4 learns that you should always do what is right for you, even if it is not the best decision for others. In any case, Life, Sam and Tims father, was right, In war the dead pay the debts of the living (211).