The Moon Is Down: The Effects Of War

War effects everyone involved. The conquerors and those being
conquered. War is a struggle that is internal and external. Man can be a
dedicated and loyal soldier for only so much at a time. He then longs for
laughter, music, girls, a good meal and more. In The Moon is Down, the
soldiers get the need to return home. They begin to doubt what they are
doing and if they are being told the truth. They become uneasy when the
enemy doesn’t talk to them. The townspeople’s hatred is growing. They
remained indoors and stared from behind curtains while the patrol walked
through the town.

Lieutenant Tonder was a romantic naive poet who felt the enemy should
love him. Steinbeck presented Tonder as “a bitter poet who dreamed of
perfect, ideal love of elevated young men for poor girls” (25).

When Lieutenant Tonder first arrived in town he thought that it was a
nice country with nice people. Tonder says, “There are some beautiful
farms here. If four or five of them were thrown together, it would be a
nice place to settle, I think” (34). The war was not ending as quickly as
Tonder expected. The townspeople had become the silent enemies of the
soldiers or the townspeople became silent waiting for revenge. “Now it was
the conqueror was surrounded, the men of the battalion alone among silent
enemies, and no man might relax his guard for even a moment” (65). The
soldiers now have only each other to talk to and Tonder longed to go home.

“The men of the battalion came to detest the place they had conquered,…

and gradually a little fear began to grow in the conquerors, a fear that it
would never be over” (65-66). In war, as time goes on fear begins to
settle on soldiers. “Thus it came about that the conquerors grew afraid of
the conquered and their nerves wore thin and they shot at shadows in the
night” (66-67). Tonder starts to doubt the honesty of his fellow Germans
Tonder says, “If anything happened- at home, I mean – do you think they
would let us know…well, I would like to get out of this god-forsaken
hole!” (70-71). Tonder felt at first that this town had nice, pleasant
people but as time moved on, he changed his views. “These people! These
horrible people! These cold people! They never look at you. They never
speak. They answer like dead men. They obey, these horrible people. And
the girls are frozen” (71). Tonder who once felt the enemy should love
him, now fears the enemy. Tonder starts losing control and says, “The
enemy’s everywhere! Every man, every women, even children! The enemy’s
everywhere” (72). Tonder who once wanted to settle in this town now longs
to go home. Tonder says, “I mean this: we’ll be going home before long
won’t we?” (75). Tonder is questioning if the town there are in has been
conquered. Tonder states, “Conquered and we’re surrounded! (77). “Tonder
already upset loses control and suggests to Joseph that the `leader’ is
crazy, that the war will never end, and hysterically avows that the `flies
conquer the flypaper'” (Clancy 104). In Tonder’s loneliness he visits
Molly Morden. “Can you understand this – can you believe this? Just for a
little while, can’t we forget this war?… can’t we talk together like
people – together?” (83). Tonder’s longings of dying on the battlefield
come true when Molly kills him with her knitting needles.

Colonel Lanser is the leader of the invaders. He would execute any
Nazi order. Colonel Lanser asks the townspeople to be cooperative.

Charles J. Clancy states, “Annie scalds some soldiers on the rear porch,
and Lanser excuses her conduct in an effect to get Mayor Orden’s
cooperation” (103). Lanser doesn’t understand why all people don’t follow
orders. He as a soldier is expected to carry our and follow orders. His
life as a Colonel would be simple if everyone followed orders. He hoped in
his mind that this war would not be like the last war. “Lanser told
himself he was a soldier, given orders to carry out … he tried to put
aside the sick memories of the other war and the certainty that this would
be the same” (27). The people being invaded will not cooperate and
therefore Colonel Lanser’s job will be difficult. Lanser says, “We must
get the coal. If your people are not orderly, we will have to restore that
order by force” (54). Lanser is the only soldier shown as knowing what war
is really about. Peter Lisca’s opinion is “Of them all, only Colonel Lanser
knew what war really is in the long run… treachery and hatred, the
middling of incompetent generals, the torture and killing and sickness,
until at last it is over and nothing has changed except for new weariness
and new hatreds” (188). Mayor Orden asks Colonel Lanser if he can refuse
the soldiers living in his house. “I’m sorry,” The Colonel said. “No.

These are the orders of my leader” (20). When asked if Lanser will carry
out his orders knowing they will fail he replied, “I will carry out my
orders no matter what they are” (125). Colonel Lanser hopes that the
mayor’s town will listen and act orderly. When asked by the mayor if the
people don’t follow orders Lanser stated, “I hope they will want to because
they must. We must have the coal. They are an orderly people. They don’t
want trouble” (17) Lanser at the end is hoping the townspeople follow his
orders. He is going to execute the mayor unless the townspeople follow his
orders. Colonel Lanser said, “I arrested you as a hostage for the good
behavior of your people. Those are my orders” (122).

Mayor Orden is a simple man who believed in the fighting spirit of his
townspeople. He thought that no sacrifice was too great for freedom.

Mayor Orden was confused about how to approach the invaders in his house.

“He laughed softly. `I’m a little afraid’, he said apologetically. `Well,
not afraid, but I’m nervous.’ And he said helplessly, `We have never been
conquered, for a long time-‘”(13). He was quite upset when he discovered
that George Correl, the collaborator (Clancy,103) prepared the town for the
invasion. Orden says angrily, “You have sat at my table, you have drunk
port with me. Why, you helped me plan the hospital! This isn’t true! I
do not wish to speak in this gentleman’s company” (15). The town elected
the mayor and it is his job to protect the people from harm. “The strength
of the conquered people in The Moon is Down is that of the pioneers in the
Leader of the People” (Lisca 190). The mayor says,”Sir I am of this
people, and yet I don’t know what they will do… but my people have
elected me. They made me and they can unmake me” (18). Lisca says, “Their
leader is an expression of the body politics, one who happens to be going
in the direction the people want to move” (190). Mayor Orden is
uncomfortable with the idea of the soldiers living in his home. He is
afraid the townspeople will think he is on their side. Orden says,”Am I
permitted to refuse this honor?”(19). He refers to this as an honor which
shows he is very confused. Orden was very upset when he discovers that the
soldiers expect him to pass a death sentence on Alexander Morden. The
Mayor says, “I have no right to pass sentence of death… I would be
breaking the law as much as you” (54). His role of being mayor for so many
years is now changing because of the invasion. Mayor Orden in talking to
Alex Morden during his trial tells him that his act of killing a soldier is
the beginning of the town’s expressing their anger. He tells him that he is
uniting the town in their hatred and anger. Orden says, “You will make the
people one” (61). Orden is now feeling the pressure that war has brought
upon him as Mayor of his town. At the beginning of the novel, Mayor Orden
is concerned about the way he looks for the conquerors and at the end he is
willing to die for his people. (Lisca 192). Lisca says, “He is made to rise
from the triviality of the first scene, in which we see him getting the
hair trimmed from his ears, so he will look neat for the conquerors, to the
greatness of the last scene in which he is led out to be shot, he calmly
quotes Socrates last words” (192).

Molly Morden is very upset because her husband is going to be
executed. She kept on asking the Mayor if he was going to sentence her
husband’s death. She wouldn’t let Mayor Orden touch her to comfort her.

Molly says,”Please don’t touch me” (51). Lieutenant Tonder arrives at
Molly’s house. She offers herself to him for two sausages. Molly says,
“Do I disgust you, Lieutenant? Maybe I’m trying to. My price is two
sausages” (86). She is so beside herself with grief and loneliness that
she unraveled the wool from an old sweater so she can keep busy. She let
Lieutenant Tonder near her. She even put her hand to his cheek. She told
him she didn’t hate him and that she too was lonely. This is in contrast
to her attitude toward the Mayor who she wouldn’t let touch her. Molly
says, “The trouble I’m in no one can help me with” (95). Molly hides a
pair of scissors in her dress which she uses to kill Lieutenant Tonder, who
trusts Molly (Lisca 196).

In the novel, The Moon is Down, Steinbeck shows us how war affects
different people. Lieutenant Tonder started out as a poet who romanticized
war. He ended up losing control. He felt that instead of being one of the
conquerors he felt that the townspeople were the conquerors and that he was
conquered. Colonel Lanser has a dilemma between his role as a colonel and
as a human being. He only knows how to communicate as a soldier. He is sad
and repelled because of his position in the interest of order based upon
senseless violence. According to Richard Astro, “But despite his love for
this world and the people who inhabit it, Steinbeck orders his novel to
show beyond all doubt that it is as doomed to eventual extinction as the
world of Colonel Lanser’s overly integrated soldiers in The Moon is Down”
(20). Mayor Orden started out as a man who was only concerned with the
triviality of things and he changed by dying for his people. Molly Morden
loses control when she kills Lieutenant Tonder. War had a different affect
on everyone.

Works Cited
Astro, Richard. “Intimations of a Wasteland.” John Steinbeck.

Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 19-34.

Clancy, Charles J. “Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down (1942).” A
Study Guide to Steinbeck (Part II). Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi.

Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1979. 100-11.

Lisca, Peter. The Wide World of John Steinbeck. New York:
Gordin Press, 1981.

Steinbeck, John. The Moon is Down. New York: Penguin Books,
1942.

The Effects of War
Thesis: The damaging effect of war on the conquered and the
conquerors of The Moon is Down, by John Steinbeck.

I. Lieutenant Tonder
A. Naive Poet
1. He felt that the enemy should love him.

a. “… he loses control and suggests that the leader is
crazy, that the war will never end , and hysterically
avows that the flies conquer the flypaper” (Clancy 104).

2. He is effected by the reaction of the townspeople.

a. “These people! These horrible people! These cold
people! They never look at you. They never speak. They
answer like dead men. They obey, these horrible people.

And the girls are frozen.” (Steinbeck 71).

II. Colonel Lanser
A. Soldier vs. human being
1. He was effected because all he did was listen to
orders even though they were’nt the right thing to do.

a. “I will carry out my orders no matter what
they are” (Steinbeck 125).

III. Mayor Orden
A. He is a simple man who believes in the fighting spirit
of his townspeople.

1. He thought that no sacrifice was too great for
freedom.

a. “He is made to rise from the triviality of the first
scene, in which we see him getting his hair trimmed from his
ears so he will look neat for the conquerer, to the
greatness of the last scene, in which he is led out to be
shot, he calmly quotes socrates’s last words” (Lisca 192).

IV. Molly Morden
A. Her husband Alex was executed.

1. Unravels the wool from an old sweater and winded
yarn in a ball to keep heer mind off of her husband’s
death.

a. laughed with Lt. Tonder and then killed him.