Previous
Symbols
Mother Courage’s wagon is the overriding symbol at the center of the play; Brecht’s audiences, readers, and performers will rightly interpret it in countless different ways, but one of its clearest functions is as a metaphor for the burden of fate. In short, Mother Courage’s attachment to her wagon represents the inescapable fact that our lives are determined by forces beyond our control, and we have to make the best of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
The wagon serves as Mother Courage’s home and business, but it’s also her vehicle for traveling around Europe and her shield during battles along the way. The first line in the play is a stage direction describing the wagon, which remains onstage throughout nearly the whole performance, and Mother Courage’s last action in the final scene is to hitch herself to it, alone and resolute, and trudge onward into an uncertain future. The wagon burdens her physically because she has to pull it, economically because all her wealth gets locked up in it, and spiritually because it leads her children to their deaths and leads her to a lifetime of violence and instability. But she accepts that her lot in life is to keep pulling it, and she never considers leaving it behind. After all, she has always lived from it and she has no alternative—in a way, it is her very identity. Notably, Brecht is not praising her perseverance and namesake courage. In fact, he famously wished for audiences to see the fault in her ways rather than empathizing with her. Perhaps, like Germans on the eve of World War II, Mother Courage should have left her wagon behind and chosen a different life, rather than simply resigning herself to facing certain death and facilitating the destruction of Europe.
The Wagon Quotes in Mother Courage and Her Children
The Mother Courage and Her Children quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Wagon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
HERE’S MOTHER COURAGE AND HER WAGON!
HEY, CAPTAIN, LET THEM COME AND BUY!
BEER BY THE KEG! WINE BY THE FLAGON!
LET YOUR MEN DRINK BEFORE THEY DIE!
SABERS AND SWORDS ARE HARD TO SWALLOW:
FIRST YOU MUST GIVE THEM BEER TO DRINK.
THEN THEY CAN FACE WHAT IS TO FOLLOW—
BUT LET ‘EM SWIM BEFORE THEY SINK!
CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! THE WINTER’S GONE!
THE SNOWS DEPART, THE DEAD SLEEP ON.
AND THOUGH YOU MAY NOT LONG SURVIVE,
GET OUT OF BED AND LOOK ALIVE!
YOUR MEN WILL MARCH TILL THEY ARE DEAD, SIR,
BUT CANNOT FIGHT UNLESS THEY EAT.
THE BLOOD THEY SPILL FOR YOU IS RED, SIR,
WHAT FIRES THAT BLOOD IS MY RED MEAT.
FOR MEAT AND SOUP AND JAM AND JELLY
IN THIS OLD CART OF MINE ARE FOUND:
SO FILL THE HOLE UP IN YOUR BELLY
BEFORE YOU FILL ONE UNDERGROUND.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 1
Quotes
Well, there’s yours, Eilif, my boy! (As EILIF takes the slip, she snatches it and holds it up.) See? A cross!
[…]
Take yours, Swiss Cheese. You should be a better bet—you’re my good boy. (SWISS CHEESE draws.) Don’t tell me it’s a cross? Is there no saving you either? Just look, Sergeant—a black cross!
[…]
(to KATTRIN) Now all I have left is you. You’re a cross in yourself but you have a kind heart. (She holds the helmet up but takes the slip herself.) Oh dear, there must be some mistake! Don’t be too kind, Kattrin, don’t be too kind—there’s a black cross in your path! So now you all know: be careful! Be very careful! (MOTHER COURAGE climbs on her wagon preparing to leave.)
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 3
Quotes
YVETTE (re-enters, pale). You’ve done it—with your haggling. You can keep your wagon now. He got eleven bullets in him. I don’t know why I still bother about you, you don’t deserve it, but I just happened to hear they don’t think the cash-box is really in the river. They think it’s here. And they think you were in with him.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 8
Quotes
CHAPLAIN. Your intentions are only too transparent! (to MOTHER COURAGE:) But when I see you take peace between finger and thumb like a snotty old handkerchief, the humanity in me rebels! You want war, do you? Well, don’t you forget the proverb: who sups with the devil must use a long spoon!
MOTHER COURAGE. Remember what one fox said to another that was caught in a trap? “If you stay there, you’re just asking for trouble.” I’m not in love with war, Mr. Army Chaplain, and when it comes to calling people hyenas, you and I part company!
CHAPLAIN. Then why all this grumbling about the peace? Is it just for the junk in your wagon?
MOTHER COURAGE. My goods are not junk. I live off them.
CHAPLAIN. You live off war. Exactly!
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 9
Quotes
MOTHER COURAGE. Kattrin! Where do you think you’re going? (She examines the bundle.) Ah! So you were listening ? I told him: nothing doing—he can have his lousy inn. (Now she sees the skirt and pants.) Oh, you stupid girl! Now what if I’d seen that, and you’d been gone! (KATTRIN tries to leave. Her mother holds her.) And don’t imagine I sent him packing on your account. It was the wagon. They can’t part me from my wagon. Now we’ll put the cook’s things here where he’ll find ’em, that silly man. You and I are leaving. (She climbs upon the wagon and throws the rest of the COOK’s few things down on to the pants.) There! He’s fired! The last man I’ll ever take into this business! Get into harness, Kattrin. This winter will pass like all the others.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 11
Quotes
LIEUTENANT (pointing to the wagon on which KATTRIN has appeared). There’s another. (A SOLDIER pulls her out.) Is this everybody?
OLD PEASANT. That’s our son.
PEASANT WOMAN. And that’s a girl that can’t talk. Her mother’s in town buying up stocks because the shopkeepers are running away and selling cheap.
OLD PEASANT. They’re canteen people.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
(KATTRIN, unperceived, has crept off to the wagon, has taken something out of it, put it under her skirt, and has climbed up the ladder to the roof.)
PEASANT WOMAN. Be mindful of the children in danger, especially the little ones, be mindful of the old folk who cannot move, and of all Christian souls, O Lord.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 12
Quotes
OLD PEASANT. Have you no one left?
MOTHER COURAGE. Yes, my son Eilif.
OLD PEASANT. Find him then, leave her to us.
PEASANT WOMAN. We’ll give her a proper burial, you needn’t worry.
MOTHER COURAGE. Here’s a little money for the expenses. (She harnesses herself to the wagon.) I hope I can pull the wagon by myself. Yes, I’ll manage. There’s not much in it now. (The last regiment is heard passing.) Hey! Take me with you!
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Mother Courage and Her Children LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Wagon Symbol Timeline in Mother Courage and Her Children
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Wagon appears in Mother Courage and Her Children. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
Mother Courage sits on her wagon with her daughter Kattrin while her sons Eilif and Swiss Cheese pull it. She sings...
(full context)
Scene 1
Mother Courage and her children (Kattrin, Eilif, and Swiss Cheese) approach on their wagon. The soldiers demand to see the family’s business license. Eilif and Swiss Cheese explain that...
(full context)
The Recruiting Officer compares Eilif and Swiss Cheese to oxen because they are pulling the wagon. Eilif asks Mother Courage for permission to “smack him in the puss [face].” Mother Courage...
(full context)
While Mother Courage takes the Top Sergeant behind her wagon to sell him the belt, the Recruiting Officer grabs Eilif and leads him away. Kattrin...
(full context)
Scene 3
...have passed, and she hasn’t found him. After finishing the song, she hides behind the wagon. Next, Mother Courage tells Kattrin not to fall for a military man because they charm...
(full context)
...Mother Courage calls Kattrin “respectable,” not “captivating,” then takes the Cook and Chaplain behind the wagon to dispense their brandy.
(full context)
...boots, Mother Courage compares her to a sex worker and hides the boots behind her wagon. Yvette briefly shows up to powder her face and look for her boots, then runs...
(full context)
...so that he can eventually bring it back to his sergeant. Kattrin goes behind the wagon, where two soldiers (the Sergeant and One Eye) confront her, asking for Swiss Cheese. She...
(full context)
That evening, Mother Courage explains that she has a plan to pawn her wagon and buy Swiss Cheese’s freedom. Yvette enters with an elderly Colonel, tells him that she...
(full context)
...the rest of her plan: once Swiss Cheese is free, she will buy back the wagon with the money from his cashbox. Yvette returns and reports that One Eye agreed to...
(full context)
Scene 4
...paymaster (Swiss Cheese). She claims to be innocent and protests that the army destroyed her wagon and fined her five thalers. The Clerk tells her to keep quiet, but she insists...
(full context)
Scene 5
...and will just tear it up. Kattrin tries to get some shirts out of the wagon, but Mother Courage stops her.
(full context)
Scene 6
...boots as a gift. But Kattrin refuses to wear the boots and hides in the wagon. Mother Courage tells the Chaplain that Kattrin’s wound will scar and complains that she never...
(full context)
Scene 7
Kattrin and the Chaplain pull the wagon, which is filthy and falling apart but full of new wares. Mother Courage walks alongside...
(full context)
Scene 8
...many” and perish. One summer day, an elderly woman and her son approach Mother Courage’s wagon at the camp. They have a huge sack of bedding to sell, but Mother Courage...
(full context)
...to give the Cook some brandy, but she does nothing and refuses to leave the wagon. Mother Courage brings the Cook’s drink herself, then starts complaining that the peace is going...
(full context)
...her goods at a discount, before they become totally worthless. Mother Courage gets in her wagon, and the Cook and Chaplain start trading threats.
(full context)
Mother Courage exits her wagon and asks why Yvette is in mourning. Yvette replies that her husband—the brother of the...
(full context)
...Eilif asks him not to), and the Cook tries to coax Kattrin out of the wagon.
(full context)
...accompany her and Kattrin, and he agrees and gets in the harness to pull the wagon. They take off, singing “The Song of Mother Courage,” including a new verse about how...
(full context)
Scene 9
...She goes inside, but quickly returns with soup for Kattrin—only to find Kattrin outside the wagon with a bundle of her possessions, trying to run away. Realizing that Kattrin heard her...
(full context)
Scene 10
Mother Courage and Kattrin pull their wagon up to a well-to-do farmhouse. A voice sings inside, and they stop to listen. The...
(full context)
Scene 11
...on alone, and the war still will not end. It is nighttime, and the tattered wagon is parked next to a farmhouse. Three soldiers and a Lieutenant knock on the farmhouse...
(full context)
...grandchildren, and farm. While the woman prays, Kattrin quietly pulls a drum out of the wagon, hides it in her skirt, and then climbs up to the roof. When the farmers...
(full context)
...his soldiers go to get one. The Old Peasant Woman suggests threatening to break the wagon—the Lieutenant tries this, and the Young Peasant even hits the wagon with a board. But...
(full context)
Scene 12
...night, with the army in the distance, Mother Courage sits with Kattrin’s body near their wagon. The Old Peasant and Old Peasant Woman advise Mother Courage to leave before the soldiers...
(full context)
...them some money to do it. She gets in the harness and starts pulling her wagon. The soldiers pass in the distance, and Mother Courage yells out that she wants to...
(full context)
