11: sample analytical paragraph

We looked at this in class. This is half of a body paragraph from an student's essay about moral inversion in Mother Courage:

War heroes emerge throughout the play, each of them revealing the theme of moral inversion of war. War heroism is encountered already in scene one, where recruiting soldiers emphasize the “good money in it, glory too.” (p.7) The promise of glory persuades Eilif to abandon his family for the military, showing how alluring the idealism of being a war hero is. Eilif soon gains the recognition he was promised: “Hacked ‘em to pieces, did you, so my gallant lads can get a proper bite to eat? What do the Scriptures say? ‘Whatsoever thou doest for the least of my brethren, thou doest for me.’” (p.17) The moral inversion of Eilif’s ‘heroic’ act is clear: Eilif is being praised for a sinful act due to the benefit it gave his country. The strong connotation of ‘hacking’ accentuates the brutality of the act, emphasizing the irony of Eilif’s heroism. The reference to Christianity also ludicrously embellishes the inversion, since the general is twisting the moral in the recited scripture to fit Eilif’s ironic heroism.