Lapp Colton

May 13, 2009

Mrs. K reading
1 On page 201 the expression “let the dead bury the dead”
means that in war, soldiers are burying soldiers. The
soldiers are already dead because soldiers die in war. So the
“already dead soldiers are burying the dead.”
2 The irony of Sam’s execution is the fact that, Sam’s dad
died from the war and now his son was going to follow in
his footsteps.
3 In chapter 14, Time took that bayonet because he wanted
to use it to break Sam out of jail. I do not think that that
was a smart choice, but its human nature to want to do
something like that. I would be furious if this happened to
me, and I would probably do something along the same
lines.
4 I don’t think that there was another way to settle the
controversy without war. There may have been another
way but not one that I can think of.
5 The date 1947 was important because that was the very
same year that the war in Vietnam ended.
6 I think that the author’s purpose in writing this novel was
so that others might have a grasp of what actual war was
like. They wanted to show how cruel war can be. Some
things that showed this were like the times when Tim’s dad
and brother died.
7 I do not think that Tim is a hero. Tim did not do anything
that was very heroic. Sam on the other hand, I might
consider a hero because Sam fought in a war. By fighting in
a war you must have a lot of courage. Sam may not have
done some heroic choices (stealing brown bess) but he still
was very brave in going to war.