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Character Analysis of The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck Essays

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Analysis of The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck

“Apart from Mayor Orden, the characters in “The Moon Is Down” remain two dimensional”

John Steinbeck’s “The Moon Is Down” is a novel about human relationships, the relationships between a small town and its invaders, the relationships between town officials and the towns-people, and the relationships between the members of the invading army. Although it is a short novel Steinbeck has made a few strong and well-defined characters in these 122 pages. While there are many characters that only have a few pages in which to define themselves, the major characters seem to be very well thought out, and most are quite well rounded.

Most of the characters in the novel receive a small …show more content…

He knows how they will behave now that an enemy force has invaded their land, and he knows how much power he has over the people. The Mayor’s understanding of all that will happen shows him as a highly educated and intelligent man, and greatly adds to his personality as a character.

There are some characters in the story that Steinbeck seems to have attempted to give a realistic personality. While these characters have little time to define who they are, the way they are written into the text makes them seem more real. In “The Moon Is Down” it is not the way the characters are, but the plot itself that makes the book more developed. Characters like Molly Morden and Lieutenant Tonder are like this. Molly Morden is brought into the book as a grief stricken soon-to-be widow, her husband being tried and executed for the murder of a soldier in the invading army. Steinbeck uses other characters in the novel to supply the reader with background on Molly. Some small comments in conversation help to define Molly’s personality:

“She used to teach grammar school. Yes, I remember. She’s so pretty, she hated to get glasses when she needed them…She’s good strong stock.
She is a Kenderly, you know”

(Pages 47 and 51)

Lieutenant Tonder is another character whose main introduction is in the form of a short, yet detailed paragraph, however,

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