Tim Meeker is the first-person narrator and protagonist of My Brother Sam Is Dead. When the story opens, Tim is only 13 years old. Although he is still in many ways a child, he is on the cusp of adolescence and adulthood. Between the years from 1775 to 1779, Tim exhibits significant emotional, psychological, and moral growth, epitomizing the bildungsroman genre.

The Colliers share Tim’s thoughts and feelings throughout. Tim is a thoughtful, introspective narrator. However, he finds himself unable to choose which side he thinks is right because the situation is so ambiguous. The Colliers illustrate through Tim that war is never easy to understand.

Tim initially hero-worships his older brother and often wishes that he could be as brave as Sam. Tim soon begins to realize that Sam’s hot-headedness and lack of forethought is immature. When Tim finds himself in a crisis immediately after his father’s abduction, he knows that Sam would undertake the daring move of trying to rescue their father. Tim chooses instead the more prudent course of action of getting the wagon home.

Father’s abduction is a turning point for Tim’s character development. He has become an adult, almost “overnight.