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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:
).
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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The play opens with the Top Sergeant and Recruiting Officer lamenting the sorry state of the Swedish war effort. In particular, they complain that they’re struggling to recruit because Swedish men simply don’t want to sacrifice their lives to go fight far away in Germany. After all, King Gustavus has ostensibly joined the war to protect German Protestants—not his own people—and many, including Mother Courage, suspect that he’s really in it for personal gain. But as they observe the village of Dalarna, the soldiers frame the local people’s opposition in different terms. They view the locals as lazy and disorganized Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi at
(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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When the soldiers try to recruit Eilif into the Swedish army, this is Mother Courage’s response. She refuses to let her sons fight in the war; they will merely sell goods to the people who fight in the war. Needless to say, Mother Courage has seen the danger and suffering involved in the fighting firsthand, and she knows better than to expose her sons to it. While she opposes the war in this narrow sense, Mother Courage seems to think that she is different—more noble and peaceful, and therefore safe from the war’s worst effects—because she does not get directly Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa.
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.)
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Partway into the first scene, Swiss Cheese makes the surprising (and entirely unexplained) announcement that Mother Courage can see the future. Mother Courage then draws lots, selecting pieces of paper that represent the fate of the Top Sergeant and her three children. All four have black crosses on them, which means that all four people will die soon in the war. Audiences unfamiliar with Brecht’s work may find this plot twist deeply confusing. Why would Brecht introduce a random fortune-telling element, and why would his protagonist give away the story’s ending? But actually, by making the audience ask these questions, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta ita
When a war gives you all you earn
One day it may claim something in return!
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The play’s first scene ends with this aphorism from the Top Sergeant. His meaning is clear: people who get involved in the war might initially expect to benefit from it, but in reality, they tend to lose at least as much as they gain. Of course, this is ironic because Mother Courage has just predicted that he will die, too. But the main purpose of this line is to confirm that Mother Courage’s attempts to profit from the war will, indeed, cost her all three of her children. In fact, she won’t get her profits either: she will end the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Si
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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’...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
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...
(full context)
