My Brother Sam Is Dead Study Guide

My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln CollierChristopher Collier,

My Brother Sam is Dead is a novel by James Lincoln Collier about a boy named Timothy Meeker living during the American Revolutionary War. Timothy's father is a loyalist and his patriot brother is forced to leave home, eventually joining the Continental Army. After his father dies and the family begins to fall apart, Timothy witnesses many horrors of the war and his brother is eventually killed. The novel is a coming of age story focusing on themes of loyalty and bravery and the tension between family and ideology.

My Brother Sam Is Dead Characters

Table of Contents
  • Sam Meeker : A high-strung 16-year-old who joins the Continental Army to fight for his principles against his family's wishes. Sam is executed by his own army after being falsely accused of stealing his own family's cattle.
  • Tim Meeker : Sam's brother and the narrator of the story. Although younger than Sam, Tim frequently comes across as more mature and responsible. Faces difficulty choosing between his father's ideas and Sam's. Tim is also afraid to voice his own opinions.
  • Eliphalet "Life" Meeker (also called Father and Mr. Meeker) : Tim and Sam's father, Life is a pacifist. During a trip to sell beef, he is captured by the Rebels, because the things he sells travel to the British, and the Rebels think helping the British in any way should be punished. He ends up dying on a British prison ship from an outbreak of epidemic cholera.
  • Susannah Meeker (Also called Mother and Mrs. Meeker) : Tim and Sam's mother, who is very religious and hardworking. She takes over running the tavern and starts to drink heavily after Sam dies.
  • Tom Warrups : Native American man whose hut Sam stays at when coming home to Redding, Connecticut. Sam also hides his Father's Brown Bess there.
  • Betsy Read : A young woman who belongs to a Patriot family. Also Sam's girlfriend. Comes to the tavern regularly for beer and rum.
  • Jerry Sanford : A young local boy and a friend of Tim's. Jerry is captured by the British and dies on a prison ship.
  • General Israel Putnam : Commander of the Continental Army that stays in Redding. General Putnam sentences Sam to death.
  • Dr. Hobart : One of Redding's many doctors. He saved one of the Patriot messengers that got shot by the British troops walking into Redding.
  • Ned the Slave : A slave that lives in Redding. He was also one of the characters that got his head decapitated by a British officer.

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