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Scene 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mother Courage and Her Children, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War, Failure, and Despair
Profit, Violence, and Power
Love and Nurture
Faith and Identity
Theater, Performance, and History
Summary
Analysis
Kattrin and the Chaplain pull the wagon, which is filthy and falling apart but full of new wares. Mother Courage walks alongside them and announces that nobody can spoil “her” war. War might eliminate “the weak,” she remarks, but “what does peace do for ’em?” She again sings “The Song of Mother Courage” from the Prologue.
Mother Courage trudges on, steadfast in her pursuit of wealth. But her namesake virtue—courage—is starting to look more and more like folly: it is leading her family to ruin and even degrading the wagon she lives in. Brecht forces the audience to ask if perseverance is truly valuable when directed toward a destructive, futile pursuit like war.
Themes
