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Yvette Pottier
The Top Sergeant is one of the soldiers who recruit Eilif into the war in the first scene. (The other is the Recruiting Officer.) The Sergeant boasts about his success in the military and makes fun of Eilif’s reservations about fighting, but when Mother Courage foretells that he will die, he grows terrified, which shows that he was lying about his bravery all along.
Top Sergeant Quotes in Mother Courage and Her Children
The Mother Courage and Her Children quotes below are all either spoken by Top Sergeant or refer to Top Sergeant. 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:
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Scene 1 Quotes
What they could use around here is a good war. What else can you expect with peace running wild all over the place? You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization. And when do you get organization? In a war. Peace is one big waste of equipment. Anything goes, no one gives a damn. See the way they eat? Cheese on rye, bacon on the cheese? Disgusting! How many horses they got in this town? How many young men? Nobody knows! They haven’t bothered to count ’em! That’s peace for you!!
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(She draws a knife.) Yes, just you try, and I’ll cut you down like dogs! We sell cloth, we sell ham, we are peaceful people!
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Well, there’s yours, Eilif, my boy! (As EILIF takes the slip, she snatches it and holds it up.) See? A cross!
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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!
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(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.)
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When a war gives you all you earn
One day it may claim something in return!
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Top Sergeant Character Timeline in Mother Courage and Her Children
The timeline below shows where the character Top Sergeant appears in Mother Courage and Her Children. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 1
In rural Sweden in 1624, two military men, the Top Sergeant and the Recruiting Officer, are looking to recruit young men to join the Thirty Years’...
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...Mother Courage draws her knife and insists that her family are just merchants, not soldiers. The Top Sergeant mocks Eilif for being afraid of war, then talks about his own successful career in...
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Mother Courage puts two folded pieces of parchment in the Top Sergeant ’s helmet: one is blank, and the other has a black cross on it (which...
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While Mother Courage takes the Top Sergeant behind her wagon to sell him the belt, the Recruiting Officer grabs Eilif and leads...
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