Small Empathy in The Good Person of Szechwan and Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children Brecht does very well in creating a form of drama in which empathy plays a small role. In The Good Person of Szechwan it would seem that every action and word is an attempt to alienate us and stop any identification that can be made. You immediately notice the indiscernible use of names for the characters that exaggerate their oriental sound, for example "Wang", "Shin", "Sun", "Shen Te", "Shu Ta", etc. There is also the use of language and intonation in relation to others revealing personality and social position, which comes in the form of oriental "bows". Many of these gestures are already found in Asian theater. Brecht calls this the "social gesture". The songs also interrupt the plot, but it's not the kind of "burst into song" found in musicals. The music itself sometimes sounds out of tune and there is an unusual rhythm that would be difficult to tap your foot to, so one cannot get involved or relate to the music, although the Threepenny Opera songs have become very popular. The moon is compared to "green cheese" as an insult to society's belief that "a child of low birth will inherit the earth" and "The Song of the Eighth Elephant" when in reality there are only seven anticipates the devious actions of the Sun representing a number of people in society who destroy the well-being of others for their own individual interest. All these songs manage to alienate the audience and have a similar message; the impossibility of a society being saved by an individual. Brecht strives to create a drama in which empathy plays a small role by diverting attention from any kind of identification one might make, especially with... middle of paper... our own society and one wishes challenge him. In reality it is possible to reach one's own conclusions freely and critically, especially through the eyes of the overwhelmed Shen Te, who must invent a ruthless cousin who can save the company by applying the cruel laws of the market. But I find myself slightly influenced by subthemes that hint a little at identification and emotion. Works Cited Brecht, Bertolt. "Mother Courage and her children." Worthen 727-751.Brecht, Bertolt. Listenings collected. London: Methuen, 1970. Benjamin, Walter. "Conversations with Brecht." Understanding Brecht. Trans. Anna Bostock. London: New Left Books, 1973. 105-121.Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on the theatre. Ed. and trans. John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang, 1992. Worthen, WB ed. Harcourt Brace's dramatic anthology. 3rd ed. Toronto: Harcourt, 1993.