How we cite our quotes: (Scene, Line numbers)
Quote #7
THE CHAPLAIN: Now they'll be burying the commander in chief. This is a historic moment.
MOTHER COURAGE: What I call a historic moment is them bashing my daughter over the eye. She's half wrecked already, won't get no husband now, and her so crazy about kids; any road she's only dumb from war, soldier stuffed something in her mouth when she was little. As for Swiss Cheese I'll never see him again, and where Eilif is God alone knows. War be damned. (VI, 279-285)
Here's one of few moments when Mother Courage is not in total support of the war as business. It's one thing for her to have lost her own innocence. But when her innocent children are killed or injured, she reveals some darker feelings about war. This is short-lived, but its effect is to humanize Mother Courage.
Quote #8
THE COOK: Padre, I'm fed up already with this bloody peace. Human race has to go through fire and sword cause it's sinful from the cradle up. (VIII, 256-258)
Sheesh, Mr. Cook, that's a little harsh. This line might explain why the cook remains cynical about war and human values all the way until the end. He doesn't believe in innocence. He sees human beings as "sinful" by nature, living in a godless world that is ruled by war.
Quote #9
MOTHER COURAGE: Cooky, how's she to pull the cart on her own? War scares her. She'll never stand it. The dreams she must have…I hear her nights groaning. Mostly after a battle. What's she seeing in those dreams, I'd like to know. She's got a soft heart. Lately I found she'd got another hedgehog tucked away what we'd run over. (IX, 74-79)
Mother Courage turns down the cook's offer to open up an inn with him and start a stable business. She chooses instead to continue on with her daughter, who would have to stay behind if she joined the cook. Courage can't imagine leaving a daughter like Kattrin behind. C'mon, nothing says innocence like saving little hedgehogs. This is another instance in which Courage's need to protect her daughter adds a human element to her character.