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Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—War as Breadwinner:
In Scene 1, the Sergeant accosts Mother Courage with a strange slew of literary devices, including metaphor and personification:
The war should swallow the peach stone and spit out the peach, hm? Your brood should get fat off the war, but the poor war must ask nothing in return, it can look after itself, can it? Call yourself Mother Courage and then get scared of the war, your breadwinner? Your sons aren’t scared, I know that much.
The first question and second questions are both metaphors. In the first, the peach itself represents the benefits Mother Courage gets from the war, while the peach stone represents the detriments of the war. The second equates the “fat” with the benefits that Mother Courage accrues from the war. Both metaphors show that Mother Courage hopes to maximize her profits and minimize her loses—which, to many, is the goal of a capitalist system.
The third question calls the war a “breadwinner,” presenting the war as someone who provides for Mother Courage. This interpretation implies that she is in a relationship of sorts with the war. Since Mother Courage represents capitalism, Brecht demonstrates here that war and capitalism are in cahoots with each other and are thereby inseparable.
All of these questions and statements also personify the war, labeling it as something that can eat, ask for favors, and gain a profit. The effect is strange, for giving war a sense of humanity while it dehumanizes actual people is absurd.
Furthermore, it is worth pointing out that the entire slew of questions is very out of character for a sergeant, making it an example of Brecht’s technique of Verfremdungseffekt, or distancing effect. An actual sergeant would not level such complaints at the mother of two boys that the military is actively trying to recruit. The deluge of literary devices directly calls out Mother Courage’s contradictory state: that of trying to profit off the war while desperately trying to avoid any cost to her.
Related Themes:
Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Lice:
In Scene 3, when the Catholics capture Mother Courage and her entourage, Mother Courage uses a curious metaphor to describe their condition, saying, “Maybe it’s all for the best. We’re prisoners. But so are lice in fur.” Mother Courage presents herself and the people who surround her (Swiss Cheese, the Chaplain, Kattrin, etc.) as lice. Lice trapped in fur cannot escape, but they can still feed on the blood of their host. Similarly, even though Mother Courage and the others can’t leave the confines of the Catholics, they don't really need to. Mother Courage can profit off the Catholics just as well as she could profit off the Protestants.
Through this metaphor, Mother Courage shows her ambivalence regarding who wins the war. It does not matter to her that she is trapped, nor does it matter to her that her ethics are compromised by switching sides. Additionally, comparing herself to a louse shows the dehumanizing nature of both war and capitalism. The model of profit she lives by reduces her to a creature of consumption without any values. Just like a parasitic louse, her main concern is finding a source to feed on. Her life, composed of such a pursuit, lacks any of the moral dimension that many other characters have (i.e. Eilif’s pursuit of martial heroism, Swiss Cheese’s pursuit of honesty, and Kattrin’s pursuit of love).
Related Themes:
