The Moon is Down: Universal Theme, Human Nature

The universal themes in this novel are very clear.  One is that what goes around comes around.  The soldiers can to take the land from the townspeople, and they are going to end up having to escape from the townspeople in my opinion.  They will have to endure the pain that the townspeople took for so long.  They will have to have murders of their kind to match the murders of the people they killed in the town.  This theme was clear because of the events leading to the soldiers downfall.  Another universal theme that was easy to spot was that you cannot take away free will from the people.  The soldiers tried to boss the civilians around.  This resulted in the murder of a soldier.  It also will lead to the uprising of the people that is foreshadowed at the ending of the novel.  This theme is universal because nobody likes to take orders and be bossed around against their will.    One last universal theme is that the world cannot be controlled by one power/person. This is the main universal theme I saw when reading the novel.  This was seen because even the soldiers started to wonder about why they were in this war and why they were in it for so long.  They lost hope and their nerves wore thin.  This theme is universal because it has been seen in the real world with leaders like Napoleon and Hitler.  

This book was great when understanding human nature.  Steinbeck created excellent characters that made human mistakes.  My favorite example is Tonder.  Lieutenant Tonder made the mistake of giving into his lonliness and trusting Molly, who hated him.  He thought that they could like each other and trust each other.  He admired her from afar, but unfortunetly trusted the women who's husband had been killed by his people.  This shows human nature because all human's desire love and other human connection.  Tonder was lonley and homesick and just wanted to be involved with a women after such a long time at war.  This shows his human nature.  Alex Morden also showed human nature.  His quick temper and rash decision to attack a soldier can be identified as a stupid human error.  He made a quick decision that cost him his life, much like Tonder.  Steinbeck did a great job at understanding and inputing human nature into his novel.


Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York: Penguin Classics, 1942. Print.