Authors Note: In this essay I will be writing about how when you read a story the point of view of the person who is writing it determines the way people look at the whole book.
In the story My Brother Sam is Dead a father and his son named Sam Meeker, are fighting about whether or not he will let his son go fight for the Americans in Revolutionary war. The story is written in the point of Sam’s younger brother, noting his observations of the war and his brother's involvement. From this perspective, a lot of events and characters are described in a way that creates a visual of a lot of arguments that turn into state of melancholy between Sam Meeker and his father.
One way that Tim Meeker’s point of view influences the reader’s interpretation is how this perspective describes how he wishes to be like his brother, thinking that the war is a symbolism of strength. Making his father look like the bad guy, because he doesn’t want his son, who is only 16 and is still a child to do a man’s work. When I read this story, I feel like Sam is old enough to make his own decisions and doesn’t need his father trying to make all of his choices for him as if he were a child.
However, the reader would feel a lot differently about Sam going off to War at the age of 16 if the novel were written in the point of view of his father. For instance, the reader wouldn’t think of the father as the bad guy because the father only is trying to protect his son, and try to make his child like himself. If the father wrote the story, you would think that it is good parenting and not letting him go is for the best.
As you can see, the point of view of a story forces the reader to see just one side of an event or topic. In My brother Sam is Dead the narrators perspective makes the reader think that Sam Meekers father is smothering him, and he is old enough to make his own decisions. Overall the point of view of a story can change the way people look at the whole entire picture.
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