At the start of My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim Meeker is a young boy who becomes conflicted between the two sides of a war after his brother joins the Rebel side, which his father is very against. Tim starts out as innocent, impressionable, and very obedient to his father. He also looks up to his brother, Sam, and is always looking to impress him. In My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim Meeker learns that glory is an illusion because he witnesses first hand how values degenerate during war.
Tim sees Sam as glorious at first, but then learns the glory is an illusion. Sam looks for glory by going to fight for the Rebels in the war. He fought in this war for years and was still seeking more glory. Tim, on the other hand, was not fooled by the illusion of glory. He was much more influenced by the harsh things going on, like soldiers killing innocent people and stealing livestock. Sam saw all this and more, but was still caught up in the idea of glory. These things show Tim that the war isn’t as glorious as he thought, and that glory is overrated.
Tim seems to lose his illusions about glory and war when his father is killed, he sees an innocent man decapitated, and watches men steal cattle from people who also need it. These actions show how values degenerate during war. In the book Mrs. Meeker keeps repeating the phrase “War turns men into beasts.” The things Tim witnesses prove this.
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