Name:
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Date:
My Brother Sam Is Dead Chapters 4-6 Socratic Seminar
Directions: Please answer the following questions as thoroughly as you can, writing in complete
sentences. Be sure to use specific examples (actual quotations from the article) to support your answers.
Reference the page number of your examples, and make sure to explain how your example fits with your
answer.
1. In chapter 1, Sam steals the family’s Brown Bess so that he can fight in the war. How has Sam’s
stealing the gun affected the Meekers so far? Do you think that the Meekers will have further
problems as a result of lacking the gun? Explain using examples from the book.
2. How do you think the story would be different if Sam had not taken the gun? Explain using
examples from the book.
3. Why are the Continentals in Redding in Chapter 4? What are they trying to do there? Support
your answer with examples from the book.
4. Analyze the scene in which the Continentals come to disarm Life. How are the Patriots
portrayed? Why do you think the authors would want to show them in this way? Explain using
examples from the book.
5. How does Life react when the Continentals come to disarm him? Do you see any similarities
between his personality and Sam’s? Explain using examples from the book.
6. Summarize the confrontation between Tim and Sam in Chapter 4. Does Tim’s view of Sam
change at all as a result? Does yours? Explain using examples from the book.
7. Do you think Tim actually would have shot Sam in the aforementioned confrontation? Why or
why not? Explain using examples from the book.
8. Do you think these types of conflicts were common during the Revolutionary War? Explain using
examples from the book and from your knowledge of the war.
9. Other than the conflict with Sam, how has the war affected the Meekers? Support your answer
with examples from the book.
10. What did Mr. Heron want Tim to do for him? Why would he want Tim to help him and not
another adult?
11. Why does Tim want to fulfill Mr. Heron’s request? What does this show us about his
personality? Explain using examples from the book.
12. At the end of Chapter 5 and into Chapter 6, Tim disobeys his father. How is Tim’s style of and
reason for rebellion different than Sam’s? What does this show us about each son’s character?
Explain using examples from the book.
13. Based on what we’ve read so far, how do you think the authors feel about war? What events in
the book make you think this? Explain.
Your Questions—please include answers!
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