Thursday 1 April 2010

Question on Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw: "How did George Bernard Show depict the struggle between morals and economics in Major Barbara?"

Dear colleagues,
   A question was sent by your colleague, Manar Ahmad. Of course, I'm going to do my best to help her by searching for material that might help her to answer it. But before doing that, I'd like first to receive your answers as far as you understand this interesting socio-political comedy. All of us will help Manar to find an answer. The question is: "How did George Bernard Show depict the struggle between morals and economics in Major Barbara?" I'll be waiting for your comments and posts before giving my personal answer.
Best wishes
Mahmoud 

3 comments:

  1. To give you a hint, and as far as I remember, there's a significant depiction of the struggle between materialism, as represented by Mr Undershaft (Barbara's father and the owner of the gun factory) and idealism represented in Barbara, a religious girl who works for the Salvation Army. For Barbara, her father's profession is not legal as it causes the death of many people. Her father tries to convince her that in spite of this truth, this industry is useful as it affords living for many families. Though the Salvation Army as a religious institution seems to be ideal on the surface, yet it is full of corruption and bad moral aspects which are extremely far from any religious values. Those people who are served by this institution represent morally corrupted people who want to earn living and basic supplies without exerting any effort....To be continued! You can start from this and curry on with the discussion. If I find many comments and contributions in this topic, I'll do my best to locate for you very useful material from my school database. Best wishes to all! Mahmoud

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  2. I really don't know the answer but here are few links that might help you :

    http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/goldman/socsig/barbara.html

    http://www.academon.com/Analytical-Essay-George-Bernard-Shaw%27s-Major-Barbara/104765

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  3. Thanks so much for these links, Sahar! I think that such things will help you to understand the play and the socio-political significance in it, even if you don't find a direct answer to this question. Also open these useful links:
    - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Barbara_(play)

    - http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=Major+Barbara

    - http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmMajorBarbara07.asp

    - http://digilib.petra.ac.id/viewer.php?page=1&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&qual=high&fname=/jiunkpe/s1/sing/2005/jiunkpe-ns-s1-2005-11400072-1853-shattered_idealism-chapter1.pdf

    - http://www.academon.com/george-bernard-shaw-major-barbara

    - http://www.megaessays.com/essay_search/Major_Barbara.html

    - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw

    Best wishes
    Mahmoud

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