How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Have you ever seen a dear friend lying in the grass with the top of his skull off and his brains sliding out of them like wet oats? Have you ever looked into the eyes of a man with his throat cut and the blood pouring out between his fingers, knowing that there was nothing he could do, in five minutes he would be dead, yet still trying to beg for grace and not being able because his windpipe was cut in two? Have you ever heard a man shriek when he felt a bayonet go through the middle of his back? I have, Sam, I have." (1.156)
Wow, Papa Meeker sure knows how to paint a gruesome picture. Sam's dad has some bad memories of the war, and he wants Sam to realize that war isn't just an abstract idea. It's got real consequences. And from what Mr. Meeker has seen, those consequences are seriously horrific.
Quote #2
"What's the use of principles if you have to be dead to keep them? We're Englishmen, Timmy. Of course there are injustices, there are always injustices, that's the way of God's world. But you never get rid of injustices by fighting. Look at Europe, they've had one war after another for hundreds of years, and show me where anything ever got any better for them." (2.17)
If Mr. Meeker has to take sides, he's definitely leaning towards the Tories (remember, this means he's pro-England). But here it sounds more like Mr. M is against wars, period. To him, fighting doesn't fix anything.
Quote #3
"There are principles involved, Tim. Either you live up to your principles or you don't and maybe you have to take a chance on getting killed."
"Who wants to get killed?"
"Nobody wants to get killed," Sam said. But you should be willing to die for your principles."
"That's right," Betsy said.
"But Betsy, you don't have to take a chance on getting killed," I said.
"I'd fight if I could," she said. (2.52-57)
Betsy and Sam definitely believe in the Patriot cause. In fact, they're willing to die for it. Now that's some serious dedication. What do you think about their mindset? And why do you think they are so gung-ho to defend their principles?
Quote #4
"Tim, please," he said calmly as he could. "It's dangerous. You think that because you're only a child they won't hurt you, but they will. They've been killing children in this war. They don't care. They'll throw you in a prison ship and let you rot. You know what happens to people on those prison ships? They don't last very long. Cholera gets them or consumption or something else, and they die. Tim, it isn't worth it." (5.64)
Mr. Meeker makes it pretty stinkin' clear that he hates the war. And these prison ships do sound horrible. Keep an eye out for the couple of characters who end up dying on prison ships. Actually, maybe Mr. Meeker can see into the future, since the poor guy dies on a prison ship himself.
Quote #5
"Rebel and Tory live almost in open warfare with each other."
[…]
"I'm happy we haven't got to that point in Redding," Father said.
"You're fortunate. People have been tarred and feathered here, houses have been burned and livestock slaughtered. Both sides are doing it—one side burns a house and the other side retaliates. It won't be long before they're hanging people. I tell you it's true, Life." (8.6, 8-9)
Mr. Meeker and Mr. Platt are pretty concerned about the way the war is seeping into the towns. In New Salem, where the Platts live, everyone is getting involved in the violence. Check out the way Mr. Platt talks about the two "sides" in this war. Did you notice that he doesn't say which side does what? It sounds to us like both sides are so violent, you almost can't tell them apart.
Quote #6
Mother figured that once Sam realized that his own side had captured or maybe even killed his father he'd come home and help manage things. "He should be tired of playing soldier boy by now," Mother said. "I should think that glory would have worn off." (10.6)
Mrs. M thinks Sam's interest in the war is all about "glory." Does this jive with what we learn about Sam? Is he fighting in the war for glory? Or is it for something else?
Quote #7
Winter came and winter went, and the war went on in the same distant way. Oh, the effects of it were real—the rising prices, the shortage of everything, the news that so-and-so had been killed in some faraway battle. But all the things you think of as belonging to a war, the battles and cannons firing and marching troops and dead and wounded—we hadn't seen any of it, expect for the messengers and commissary officers who came by. (10.19)
For a long time, Tim doesn't see the more horrific effects of the war. Sadly for our main squeeze, he'll soon finds out that some things are definitely better left unseen. But for now, he's only seen a glimpse. What do you think about the way Tim talks about the war? What does it mean that the war is "distant" but also "real"? Can you relate at all?
Quote #8
"Jerry? He's dead?"
"Nobody understands it. They put him on a prison ship and he got sick and died in three weeks. It doesn't make any sense. You can understand why they took Mr. Rogers or Captain Betts, but why imprison a ten-year-old boy?"
"What harm could he have done them? This war has turned men into animals," Mother said. (12.6-8)
Mrs. Meeker definitely isn't a fan of the Revolutionary War. In fact, we'd say it's her least favorite thing in the whole wide world. And hearing that little Jerry died in a prison ship is the last straw. Check out the way Mrs. M calls the soldiers "animals." Do you agree?
Quote #9
"There's a lot you don't understand. All of us have seen good friends killed. I had a friend bayoneted, and it took him six hours to die, screaming all the while. All we could do was hold his hand and wait. I saw a captain I loved blown in half by a cannon ball. He was the best officer we ever had, he worried about his men, he put them first. He never ate before we were fed, and I've seen him go without to give his portion to a sick man. The redcoat blew him in half, right into two pieces with his guts dangling out of both parts." He shivered. "After a few things like that you don't give a damn for anybody but your friends anymore. You kill Redcoats the way you butcher pigs." (12.41)
Sam has gone from being ignorant of the horrors of war to being all too familiar. Does this story remind you of anyone else's? Yep, we're thinking of Mr. Meeker's cautionary tale about the war. He said it would be bloody and horrible, and sadly, he was right. But Sam doesn't only talk about the horrible ways his friends died. He says he'll treat the other side just as badly. We don't like this image of Sam as a "butcher" one bit.
Quote #10
But somehow, even fifty years later, I keep thinking that there might have been another way, beside the war, to achieve the same end. (Epilogue.5)
In the end, Tim still has questions about the war. Could America have gained freedom without the war? Could all those lives have been spared? The truth is that there's no way for Tim to answer these quandaries. What do you think about Tim's attitude toward the war? How has this attitude changed from the beginning of the book? How is it the same?