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Analysis Of ' Mother Courage And Her Children '

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The norm refers to a state in which affairs are standard, typical, usual, expected and unexceptional among others. In his book, the Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse explores some of the issues relating to deviation from the norm like how an individual is affected. In addition, the play “Mother Courage and her Children” also presents various matters relating to the norm, its significance, and how the environment is altered in case of a deviation. Furthermore, Bertolt Brecht vividly examines how an individual has a difficult time to adapt to the changes in the norm naturally. The paper will talk abiut the significance of the norms in these two masterpieces, the effects of what is considered normal to the characters, and what they lose or gain when they stray from the norm.

Hermann Hesse uses Harry Haller as an example of a person who has an intrapersonal conflict due to dissatisfaction with the normal life. He shows that leading and conforming to normalcy proves hard for some people. We are taken through the Steppenwolf treatise that records a man’s multifaceted soul, which Haller fails to understand (Hesse 15). He is encircled in a struggle that cannot be solved and he is not satisfied with being either right or wrong. This fixed, the firm, false and personally developed concept makes him blind to the other world that is considered normal. He says “How foolish it is to wear oneself out in vain longing for warmth! Solitude is independence.” (Hesse 33) to mean, there is comfort in

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