How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"God meant man to obey. He meant children to obey their fathers, he meant men to obey their kings." (1.46)
Mr. Beach, the Redding minister, is definitely on the Tory side. He thinks everyone should do their duty to their country, and that's that. Check out how Mr. Beach uses the same sentence structure to talk about obeying fathers and obeying kings. It's almost like fathers and kings are two different kinds of rulers.
Quote #2
I guess he was right, children are supposed to keep quiet and not say anything, even when they know the grownups are wrong, but sometimes it's hard. Sometimes I have trouble keeping quiet myself, although not near as much trouble as Sam. (1.51)
Tim knows that he has an obligation to listen to his parents. But what happens when that duty conflicts with the truth? Sam likes to speak his mind and point out when adults are wrong. Tim, on the other hand, tries to "keep quiet." We're thinking this might be something that changes about Tim as he grows up.
Quote #3
Mr. Beach made it the subject of his sermon. He really got wound up on it, too. He said that our first duty was to God but that our Lord Jesus Christ had said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" and that meant we were supposed to be loyal Englishmen. He said that hot-tempered young men who listened not to the voices of their elders would bring a wrathy God down on their own heads. (2.19)
Mr. Beach has a lot to say about duty. For him, duty isn't just about obeying your parents or even being loyal to your country. Mr. Beach says duty is also about God. In fact, all this talk of a "wrathy God" has Tim nervous about Sam, since his idea of duty has nothing to do with being loyal to England.
Quote #4
So the summer went along and I lived my ordinary life, which was mostly chores all day long. Having a father who was a tavern-keeper was a lot better than being a farmer's son, like most boys. […] But still, it isn't as much fun as people like Jerry Sanford think. […] He doesn't realize that there's an awful lot of wood to cut to keep the fireplaces going for cooking and a lot of water to come up from the well and if there isn't anything else to do, there's scrubbing the floors and washing the windows and keeping everything clean generally. (3.6)
Sometimes, Tim's duties aren't all that much fun to perform—chores, anyone? Tim's obligation to help his family's business means he spends a lot of time cleaning and chopping wood. We're tired just thinking about it. But even though Tim complains about his duties, at least he does his part.
Quote #5
Then it came to me that even though rescuing Father was the daring thing to do, it wasn't the smartest thing. So I asked myself another question: what would Father do? And the answer that came pretty quickly was that he'd get the oxen and the wagon and the load of goods back home if he could so we'd have something to run the store and the tavern on through the winter. When I thought about it for a minute more I could see that it was the right answer. Maybe Father would get away; the cow-boys might even let him go after a while. One way or another he would be counting on me to get the wagon home—that was for certain (9.22)
Now that Mr. Meeker has been taken by cowboys, Tim has to rethink his duties. Now, his first responsibility has to be to his family, and that means getting the goods back home so the Meekers can survive the winter. With his Pops gone, Tim is going to have to make even more tough decisions about his responsibilities.
Quote #6
Usually I sat there over my porridge moaning to myself about the chores I had to do or having to go to school or something, and trying to think of some way to get out of whatever it was. Or when Mother turned her head I'd scoop up a fingerful of molasses from the jar and stir it into my milk. Or I'd eat breakfast slowly so I could stall off going to work.
But that morning after the terrible trip home, right from the first moment we got finished saying grace, I began planning the things I had to do—which things had to be done first and what was the best way to get them done. It was funny: it didn't even cross my mind to stall or try to get out of the work. (10.14-15)
With Mr. Meeker gone, Tim has new responsibilities around the house. Remember how much Tim hated doing chores when he was younger? Well look at him now. He's not only doing his chores without complaint, but he's also planning ahead. Looks like Tim is taking these new responsibilities to his family really seriously.
Quote #7
Captain Betts looked grim and hard. […] "Tim, go over and ring the church bell. Get cracking."
I didn't want to get into it, but I had to obey. I started toward the door, but my mother grabbed my collar. "No, no," she said. "Not my boy. You don't involve any more Meekers in this terrible war. Send your own child out to play soldier if you want, Stephen Betts, but no more of mine." (11.21-22)
Tim is used to obeying the orders adults give him. Sometimes this means he'll do what a Tory says, and sometimes this means he'll do what a Patriot says. Here, we see that there's only one thing that can stop Tim from obeying an adult: his duty to his mom. Watch out Betts, Mrs. Meeker is going to have the last word here.
Quote #8
"When is your enlistment up, Sam?"
He frowned. "In two months. But I'm going to reenlist."
"No, Sam. You have to come home."
[…]
"God, Mother," he said, "I came to pay a visit and first Tim badgered me about Father and now you're badgering me about coming home. I can't come home until it's over. It's my duty to stay and fight."
"You have a duty to your family, too."
"My duty to my country comes first." (11.131-133, 136-138)
Sam makes his priorities clear: duty to country comes above duty to family. We're thinking this doesn't make Mrs. Meeker feel too great. But since Sam has disobeyed his father plenty in the past, we're also not that surprised that he puts country as number one on his priority list.
Quote #9
But this time I knew he was wrong. He was staying in the army because he wanted to stay in the army, not because of duty or anything else. He liked the excitement of it. Oh I guessed he was miserable a lot of the time when he was cold and hungry and maybe being shot at, but still, he was part of something big, he thought that what he was doing was important. It felt good to be part of it, and I knew that was the real reason why he didn't want to come home. (11.151)
Sam says he's staying in the army because he has a duty to fight for his country. But here's the thing: Tim disagrees. Are we supposed to trust what Tim says about Sam's feelings? After all, he even admits that he "guessed" at some of this stuff. And what do you think Sam would say to this?
Quote #10
"They've taken him to the encampment, and it'll be up to General Putnam to do what he wants. I'd get out there in a hurry, though. The General is determined to make an example of somebody. It could go hard with Sam. General Putnam is a great and dedicated patriot and he does not take defection from duty lightly." (13.21)
According to Colonel Parsons, Sam is in real trouble. It's obvious to us that Sam didn't steal those cows. How could anyone think such a thing? But to General Putnam, Sam was supposed to be on duty with Parsons and he wasn't. It seems crazy to us that such a small breach of duty would lead to execution, but that's exactly what happens. In times of war, doing your duty is no laughing matter.