{"id":1433,"date":"2014-06-05T07:07:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T07:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warpoets.org.uk\/splashpage\/?page_id=1433"},"modified":"2014-06-05T07:07:34","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T07:07:34","slug":"the-profits-of-war","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/warpoets.org.uk\/splashpage\/resources\/for-teachers\/the-profits-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Profits of War"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Bertolt Brecht\u2019s war-torn Grusinia of The Caucasian Chalk Circle<\/i> and Europe of the Thirty-Years War in Mother Courage<\/i> the German dramatist highlights the gloomy picture of ordinary people such as farmers and inn-keepers profiting from the dire needs of others. In the Chalk Circle<\/i> the maid-servant Grusha takes the helpless baby Michael away from the city of danger and is charged a week\u2019s wages for a simple cup of milk.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second series of Downton Abbey<\/i> the former footman Thomas Barrow, who has been returned from the Front to Yorkshire having acquired a \u2018blighty\u2019, starts up a profit-making business immediately the war ends in 1918. His intention is to profit from the difficulties facing ordinary people with rationing<\/span><\/p>\n

In chapter five of Barbusse\u2019s novel Under Fire<\/i> (Le Feu), ironically sub-headed \u2018Sanctuary\u2019, the soldiers in a village in the Pas de Calais find a place to stay for a couple of days but have to pay disgraceful sums of money to the farm-owner for the privilege. It prompts one of them to comment: \u2018Damn the thieving natives, yes, yes! Some of \u2019em must be making fortunes. Everybody can\u2019t go and get killed.\u2019 One of the French soldiers chats to the woman\u2019s son and asks him:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTell me, little one, come here a bit, \u201c says Cocon, taking the boy between his knees. \u201cListen now. Your papa, he says, doesn\u2019t he, \u2018Let\u2019s hope the war goes on,\u2019 eh?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d says the child, tossing his head, \u201cbecause we\u2019re getting rich. He says, by the end of May, we shall have got fifty thousand francs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Bertolt Brecht\u2019s war-torn Grusinia of The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Europe of the Thirty-Years War in Mother Courage the German dramatist highlights the gloomy picture of ordinary people such as farmers and inn-keepers profiting from the dire needs of others. In the Chalk Circle the maid-servant Grusha takes the helpless baby Michael away from  Continue Reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":817,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n