into danger for business She loves them but risks them She Wants Safety but Bargains with War In Scene One Mother Courage warns Eilif Didn t I teach you to take care of yourself you Finnish devil you She wants him safe But she also sells goods to the Sergeant and Recruiting Officer While she bargains Eilif is recruited The contradiction is clear She fights for her son but at the same time her trade allows him to be taken She Earns Money but Loses Swiss Cheese Swiss Cheese becomes paymaster in the Second Protestant Regiment Mother Courage tells him Don t forget they made you paymaster because you re honest She feels proud that he will not steal money But when Catholics capture Swiss Cheese they ask for a ransom Mother Courage tries to save him She runs to Yvette and even to the Cook But she bargains too long trying to save a little money Before she decides Swiss Cheese is executed This is a deep contradiction in the story She values her son s honesty but she cannot sacrifice money quickly She delays and loses him Her trade mind defeats her mother s heart She Wants Peace but Profits from War Mother Courage always says she does not want her children to suffer in the war She tries to keep them safe In Scene One the Sergeant and Recruiting Officer see her sons They want them for soldiers Mother Courage becomes angry She cries Do they have to be mine This shows her wish for peace in her family She wants her sons to be free from danger But in the same moment she shows another side She sells belts boots and cloth to the soldiers She even bargains with the Sergeant while Eilif is being taken away She knows war gives her business She tells the Sergeant that her wagon is her life Without war she cannot survive This is a big contradiction She hates war as a mother but she loves war as a trader She wants to protect Eilif Swiss Cheese and Kattrin yet she follows armies from Sweden to Poland to Germany Every battle means money for her wagon She wants peace for her family but her breadwinner is war She Survives but Loses Everything At the end Mother Courage loses Eilif Swiss Cheese and Kattrin She is alone Yet she takes up her wagon again Earlier she had sung a fortune-telling song with slips of paper She said So shall we all be torn asunder if we let ourselves get too deep into this war That warning becomes true In the final scene she sings again while pulling the wagon The contradiction is final She has nothing but she still continues Her love for life fights with her endless loss The life of Mother Courage is full of contradictions She loves her children yet she takes them into war She wants peace yet she profits from war She tries to save her sons but she bargains too much She loses her daughter yet goes on pulling her wagon Brecht shows the tragic truth in war survival itself becomes a contradiction