Mother Courage & Love in the time of cholera

Marquez also shapes the characters Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza upon their experiences with social class. Florentino is first presented as a “useful and serious old man”, readily helping out at Urbino’s funeral. Although the illegitimate child to Transito Ariza and Don Pius V Loayza with his mother’s name, he is later described to have been “the most sought-after young man in his social circle” regardless of him being “ugly and sad”.  As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that his place as an illegitimate child with little education is the direct result of his hard life. In spite of this, he manages to make his way in the shipping industry resulting in making him a patient, determined man as well as eventually becoming the President of the River Company of the Caribbean. He is, however, still excluded from elite social clubs due to his illegitimacy. Fermina Daza on the other hand is presented as an independent, cool, calm and collected woman. As a recent widow she is found to be “not as helpless as her husband had feared”,  this supporting her independent nature. Fermina’s interactions with people in the upper class as well as her father have also shaped her into being distant, self-sufficient and sometimes unsympathetic. Her father’s expectation of Fermina especially plays a part in shaping her character; his idealized vision of her being a “great lady” and strictness pushes her to being seemingly a picture of perfection, however in the process leaving her to become lonely, “an old maid of twenty”, her loneliness only making her more distant from people.

Marquez and Brecht focus on social class in their texts in order to represent their two different viewpoints. Brecht uses his characters, in particular Mother Courage, to signify his anti-capitalist view by showing that the characters of lower classes cannot gain from war in any way. As the petite bourgeoisie, Mother Courage has a canteen-wagon small business in which she uses to try and profit from the war. Her business interests cannot coexist with her other concern, her children, thus leading to the lost of her all three children and so Brecht’s play causes us to withhold our sympathy towards Mother Courage. As stated in the first scene, after Eilif the eldest and first child to be taken away from her, the Sergeant states that one who would “like the war to nourish you, have to feed it something too,” meaning that one who lives of war cannot avoid giving something back. This is the case of Mother Courage who continually tries to reap rewards from war but in the process gives her children up to it. The Sergeants statement is then emphasized by the chaplain who then declares in scene 8 “...whosoever sups with the devil needs a long spoon,” Brecht once again expressing and reminding his audience of the message he wants to convey.

In contrast, Marquez uses the characters Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza to support the statement “love conquers all” where class is the barrier in which they must conquer. Lorenzo Daza prevents Florentino from marrying Fermina due to his status, determined to have her “reborn through a fortunate marriage” to someone of higher rank and so fulfilling his goal of turning “his daughter into a great lady.” Florentino refuses to give up Fermina even after the confrontation with her father which leads to Lorenzo trying to diffuse their love by whisking his daughter away to the country for two years. Despite the vast distance between them, both manage to remain in contact through a series of letters, keeping their love alive.

 The techniques implemented by Brecht and Marquez are both distinct and yet very different and are used to develop their plots against the backdrop of social class. Brecht uses the many different techniques of Epic Theatre to convey his ideology. The use of song in Brecht’s play is one such alienation effect where the songs are used to cause the audience to not get caught up in the play. Songs used in the play, such as “Song of Fraternisation” sung by the character Yvette and Mother Courage’s “Song of Grand Capitulation” are integrated into the play to foretell the singer’s past. As well as these songs informing the audience, they also make a comment about the way of life for the people in the 17th century. Another technique drawn upon by Brecht is his presentation of the characters, each presented differently from the audiences’ normal perception. For instance, each time one of Mother Courage’s children dies, Courage does not grieve as many would expect a mother to but however hurriedly gets caught up with the business of war and moves on. Alternatively, Marquez uses elements of Magical Realism to develop his storyline. The main element which he utilizes is the time aspect. In Love in the Time of Cholera, time does not move forward in an orderly fashion as it normally does in most books of other genres. There are great jumps in time, disrupting the linearity that time is normally perceived as. Throughout the novel there are several flash-backs as well as flash-forwards. The effect this has is to emphasise the significance of themes by having them reoccur several times throughout the time span of the story. Marquez’s use of Magical Realism causes his readers to feel surprised at the amount of time that has passed within the novel and take in the ideas that Marquez presents whereas Brecht uses the techniques of Epic Theatre to purposely make his play removed from real life in order for the audience to not get caught up in the play for but stand back and see its intellectual or political message.

Marquez and Brecht focus on social class in order to not only provide a means in which to shape the characters but also as a way to represent the writers two different points of views – Brecht’s anti-capitalist and Marquez’s view on love. Each accomplishes this through the use of their personal techniques; Marquez use of Magical Realism puts forward his idea of love conquering all while Brecht presents his ideology of war through the ‘little’ people through the use of Epic Theatre and in the end the playwright and novelist produce two great works.

Works Cited

Brecht, B. 2005 (1940), Mother Courage and her Children, trans. J. Willett, Methuen Drama A and C Black Publishers, London.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia 2007 (1985), Love in the Time of Cholera, trans. E. Grossman, Penguin Books, London.