The Moon is Down: Unity

            Unity is a theme in The Moon is Down. Unity is very important in any circumstance, because together, it is so much easier to accomplish things. It is why two is better than one, if you put two heads together, you have more ideas and strengths and ways to accomplish things. This is very true in the novel. The townspeople must work together if they have any hope of regaining control of their town. They understand this, and do just that. When the dynamite is dropped about the town, they quickly spread word to each other to save it and make sure they know where it is for later use (Steinbeck 1507). This kind of unity is what would make the town get things done. Although we never see what comes of the town, by history we know that Germany was eventually defeated and the town was surely put back in control of itself. When Mayor Orden is about to be killed, he say to Lanser “Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat.  Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the head men who wins the battles and the free men who win wars" (Steinbeck 1877). This quote shows that the town knows that he will not win, but the town as a whole will defeat them because they are unified by the common need to be free again. The invaders will never win because they are picking each other apart and letting their feelings overcome their mission. The unity of the town is what will keep them together and keep fighting on no matter what the invaders do to them. They are driven by the harsh treating by the Nazi soldiers and although the Nazis think it tears them apart, it just drives them more and more together each time another person is killed.

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

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