Mother Courage and Her Children

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to rape.

In the opening scene, Mother Courage is challenged by the Sergeant and Recruiting Officer who first try to prevent her from selling her wares and then accuse her of selfishly profiting off the war. They argue it is just for them to recruit her son Eilif into service because it is only fair that she sacrifices to the war that has enriched her. Mother Courage attempts to gain power over the men by asserting that she has abilities to foretell the future. Though she hopes to prove to the men that her sons will survive the war, her efforts backfire on her when she instead predicts the death of all three of her children. The black crosses symbolize death—black being a foreboding color associated with bad omens and evil, and crosses associated with the crucifixion of Christ. The cross is also fitting given that the war is a religious one. The blackness of the crosses Mother Courage makes suggest a tarnishing of Christianity, underscoring the way few—if any—of the characters involved in the war are truly devout. In this way, the black crosses highlight the hypocrisy involved in a religious war, illustrating the way that Christian doctrines of love for the enemy are quickly disregarded.