Social Problems in James Lincoln Collier's Work

If someone asked you what the most influential event in American history was, what would you say? The Civil war? The attack on Pearl Harbor? The surge of immigrants from the 1880s to the 1920s? The revolutionary war? All of these events represent America growing and changing as a nation. But what about the people living through these monumental times? How did they change? In the book My Brother Sam is Dead, the coming of age of the main character, Tim Meeker, parallels that of America during the revolutionary war, and that of an immigrant from Vietnam making a new life in America.

One instance where Tim changes with America is when he stands up to his brother Sam, convincing him to come home to make sure that their parents were safe. This is illustrated in the text when Tim states, “‘All right, Sam, if you’re not a coward, come home with me and see if everything is all right.

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’ He thought about it. ‘I’ll go as far as the barn with you.’” (Collier & Collier, pg. 58-59). Tim is able to successfully strike a compromise with his brother, when he previously had gone along with everything his brother had said. For example, the text states, “‘Are you going to tell?’ Sam said. Then I couldn’t hold back anymore and I began to cry. ‘No, I won’t tell,” I whispered. “Good-bye.’” This shows that Tim is submitting to what Sam wants him to do, contrasting to when Tim stands up for himself and is able to convince Sam to do what he previously had disagreed with.

Similarly, when the Stamp Act was imposed on colonists, they banded together and boycotted British goods. The similarity between both of these instances is that both TIm and the colonists used a quality of their opponent( Sam and the British) against them to get what they wanted. Tim used Sam’s pride against him, implying that Sam was a coward if he did not come down to the tavern to check on Mother and Father. The colonists used the British reliance on income from the colonies, as the boycott caused the British to lose money on goods that colonists otherwise would’ve bought.

Another way that the coming of age of America as a nation and of Tim Meeker are similar is that both persevered through difficulty. When Tim’s father was captured and later killed, the responsibilities of the man of the house fell on Tim. He had to do much more work than he normally would’ve and deal with the damage that the war was inflicting on the family business, all while greiving for his father and supporting his mother. Tim laments, “Now half the family was gone and our lives were really changed. Mother and I had all the work to do, which meant that there was hardly any time off for either of us. We even had to work on Sundays, which was a sin.” (Collier & Collier, pg.128). And, “The whole thing really made me feel pretty sick, working that hard from sunrise to sunset and never being able to get ahead. But there was nothing we could do about it except to pray every night that the war would end soon, and Father and Sam would come home again.” (Collier & Collier, pg.130). Parallely, Continental troops suffered physically at Valley Forge from 1777-1778. They had to endure a harsh winter that lacked an adequate food supply and proper winter clothing.