The Humanities Core Writer's Handbook , "Analyzing Drama" brought up an interesting exercise (exercise one) that I took inspiration from for my blog post today (64). This week in Humanities Core we were assigned to read the play Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht. Mother Courage ,otherwise known as Anna Fierling, is a mother of three just trying to sell her goods from a wagon while the Thirty Years War is occurring. Mother Courage prides her self on her cunning bargaining skills and her need for financial stability.  In Act 1 the Sergeant asks " ... Why's she called 'Courage'?"(1.8). His comment asks us to think why she is called "Courage" throughout the whole play and question "Is Mother Courage really courageous?"

First we must identify what makes someone courageous and if we see these qualities in Mother Courage or does she fail to even express these qualities? Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Winston Church Hill and Rosa Parks are just a few people that we view as courageous. They all have one thing in common; these people are not selfish. Their cause for courage is out of the goodness of their hearts and to help the people. But does Mother Courage do the same? Is she selfless or selfish?

Although Mother Courage wears the name of bravery she seems to be doing the opposite in Act 3 of the play. In the act when her son is taken captive for ransom, she even bargains the money for his release (3.43-50). Mother Courage does not seem to be a brave person in this case, she seems to be more hesitant and more selfish. She is a coward, at a time of need her first instinct is to bargain with the criminals. Although some may argue that Mother Courage was trying to protect her self and the rest of her family from financial ruin; most parents in this situation no matter how much the money would give everything they had without any hesitation. As Professor Smith noted, this also shows how Brecht tries to disconnect the reader from the characters emotionally.¹ Brecht depicts Mother Courage as a heartless human being. Any parent who loves there child would give up an arm and a leg to keep their child safe. Mother Courage is a selfish human being that only cares about her financial stability. As Thomas Hobbes idea of humanity states that "human beings are, at their core, selfish creatures". People who share Hobbes' views would argue that Mother Courage is not brave but that she is selfish and only wants to protect herself.
_____________________________________________________________________________1. This idea was discussed during lecture with Professor Smith.

Work Cited:
Castillo, Larisa. Humanities Core Writer's Hand Book. United States: Pearson. 2014. Print

Guardian Composite. Digital image. Theguardian.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/19/new-cold-war-back-to-bad-old-days-russia-west-putin-ukraine>.

Is the new cold war arising? Many have reason to believe that this is true. What makes this cold war differ from the former cold war lasting from 1947-1991 is that currently this war is due to "Russian opposition to NATO expansion" .  In a recent Commentary Magazine article titled "It’s Not a New Cold War, It’s Worse", Noah Rothman speaks about this debatable topic. Rothman believes that this conflict is much bigger than just a cold war. He argues that since "The Russian public is restless and dissatisfied, an extraordinarily malleable American president will soon leave office, and financial pressures have compelled the Kremlin to scale back its already unsustainable military expenditures" this will lead to a drastically different result than a cold war. Many side with Rothman in this belief, Rand Paul even believes that theses efforts could lead to World War III.

While Marco Rubio believes that we are "barreling toward a second Cold War". Rubio declares that the United States has a responsibility to take control of the situation at hand. I personally believe that it is too soon to judge how this conflict will play out. There have been many events that have happened this past week that have inched us closer to a cold war like the bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan by the United States and rocket missiles shot by Russia towards an Islamic State group but only time can tell.

Work Cited:
Are We On The Brink Of A New Cold War? Perf. Trace Domingues. TestTube News, n.d. Web. 28 June 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrSBVI1Vshc>.
Rothman, Noah. "It’s Not a New Cold War, It’s Worse." <i>Commentary Magazine</i>. N.p., 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Mindock, Clark. "Russia Airstrikes In Syria: Russian Sanctions, Lethal Aid For Ukraine Promised If Rubio Becomes President." International Business Times. N.p., 2 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2015. 
CNN Wire. "Is U.S. Bombing of Afghan Hospital a War Crime?" FOX40. N.p., 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
"Russian Missiles 'hit IS in Syria from Caspian Sea'" BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.
David Weigel. "Rand Paul: No-fly Zone in Syria ‘could Lead to World War III’." The Washington Post. N.p., 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.

N.d. Misha's Musings. Web. 2 Oct. 2015. <https://nemisha8.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/science-vs-humanities/>.

Humanities core is an exciting and interesting class that I believe will make me a better writer and reader of novels and poetry. What I wish to get out of humanities core is a better understanding of literature. I hope to not only use what I have learned in the past to improve my writing but to use what I will learn in this class to become an even better writer. I plan to use the skills I learn in Humanities core not only now but in the future during my career. I do not wish to limit my education in this class to strictly writing essays and other forms of written expression like this blog but I plan to become more skilled at understanding the texts I read . I wish to acquire skills like "interpretation" (Pan, P.8-7)  and analysis to further understand the texts I read in the this class.