The Moon is Down: Question 1

           In The Moon is Down, Steinbeck’s writing reveals several things about his attitudes and values. The first thing that is revealed is that Steinbeck valued unity and sticking together. As I have discussed in a previous blog, unity is how things are won and accomplished. If people work together, we can get so many more things done. This is true in the novel because the townspeople keep getting stronger and stronger by sticking together, like when they spread word about keeping the dynamite hidden for later use (Steinbeck 1507). The invaders seem to be weakened by the townspeople’s growing unity.

            Another thing that Steinbeck’s writing reveals is that we are all human, and even people that seem that they could not be more monstrous, the Nazis, have human qualities. This is what makes human nature so interesting, because two people can be so different. We know the Nazis as awful people, but in the novel, Steinbeck gives them human characteristics. He describes them, as poets, lovers, family men, and other completely normal characteristics. This upset some people in reaction to the novel, but Steinbeck was just showing that even though these men did such terrible things, they are still human just like us (Steinbeck). Along with all being human, Steinbeck understood that everyone has a need to be accepted. We all want to have people like us because it makes us feel good inside. In the novel, even though the Nazis were invading the town they still wanted to be like among the people, and became upset and deranged when they realized the people hated them (Steinbeck).

            The Moon is Down is written in third person limited. The story is told by a narrator, which works well in this novel because the reader gets to see not only the townspeople’s perspective of the invasion, but also the invaders perspective. The narrator is limited because we are not told what the characters of the story are thinking, just what they speak.  

           

 Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down, a Novel,. New York: Viking, 1942. Print

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