32 pages • 1 hour read
John SteinbeckThe Moon Is Down
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1942A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
The Moon is Down opens with the sudden conquering of a small Norwegian mining town by German soldiers during World War II. Mr. Corell, the town’s shopkeeper, has secretly worked with the German Colonel Lanser in preparation for the town’s defeat. The town’s small defensive troops, 12 in total, were tricked out of the town by Corell while Colonel Lanser established control. Nine of the soldiers are either killed or wounded when they attempt to return.
Mayor Orden receives news that Colonel Lanser intends to meet with him. Orden invites his friend and colleague, Doctor Winter, to attend the meeting as another representative of the town. Captain Bentick of Colonel Lanser’s command enters the Mayor’s house and searches for the firearms Corell has told them about. Both Winter and Orden are shocked to discover that Corell has betrayed his people. Orden’s wife joins them in waiting for Colonel Lanser and wonders what social proprieties she should observe in such a situation. Doctor Winter replies: “It’s been so long since we conquered anybody or anybody conquered us. I don’t know what is proper” (9). They have not received news of the state of the rest of the country.
Colonel Lanser arrives with Corell. Mayor Orden asks for Corell to be removed from the room, which Lanser obliges. Lanser explains that the town’s fortuitous location near a mine and fishing spots required the Germans to occupy: “This whole thing is more an engineering job than conquest” (15). He expects the town’s miners to continue working in the mine and for Orden to remain in his mayoral position so long as he cooperates with Lanser’s orders.
Orden resists Lanser’s claim that he can order his people to follow the Germans. He believes the mayoral office to be a vessel for the people’s desires and refuses to act decisively until he better understands what the people want him to do. Orden warns Lanser that the townspeople will likely resist against conquest.
Orden’s servant Joseph interrupts the meeting to report that the mayor’s cook, Annie, has thrown boiling water on the German soldiers waiting outside the house. Lanser claims that: “We are instructed to get along with your people” (19). He desires Orden to cooperate with him to make the transition of power as peaceful as possible and reduce the threat of revolt.
Chapter 2 Summary
Colonel Lanser and five of his staff live with the Mayor and make the Mayor’s house their base of operations. The narrator describes the five men of Lanser’s staff: Major Hunter the engineer, the elderly Captain Bentick, the young and militarily enthusiastic Captain Loft, and the idealistic Lieutenants Prackle and Tonder; “These were the men of the staff, each one playing war as children play ‘Run, Sheep, Run’” (22). Only Colonel Lanser himself has ever been involved in war and understands the realities of their situation as conquerors.
Major Hunter and Captain Loft argue over whether the townspeople are a danger to them, with Loft claiming that their forces must strictly follow protocols in order to inspire the townspeople to follow their orders. Hunter works on designing an improved railway system for the town so that they can better move coal from the mines and transport it to the front lines. The Lieutenants discuss a picture of a woman that Prackle carries and whether there are women of interest in the town. Lieutenant Tonder claims he wants to settle down nearby after the war is over.
Colonel Lanser enters and sends Captain Loft out on duty. Corell arrives and asks to speak with Lanser alone. Corell’s head is bandaged after a stone allegedly fell on him while walking along the cliffs that morning. Colonel Lanser warns that the stone was likely thrown by one of the townspeople. He prompts Corell to consider leaving the town for his own safety. However, Corell has written a report to send to Lanser’s superiors in which he states the need for himself to be appointed mayor of the town in place of Orden.
Lanser denies appointing Corell to mayorship immediately on the grounds that he is disconnected from the townspeople and will be ineffective in trying to lead them. Lanser’s main objective in the town is to get as much coal as possible and prevent the townspeople from revolting. He says to Corell, “I think you will never again know what is going on here” (34). Corell insists on staying in the town until he receives a reply to his report.
Captain Loft returns to announce that Captain Bentick has been accidentally killed during a fight with a miner who refused to continue working. They have captured the miner and begin making plans to formally execute him for disobedience.
Chapter 3 Summary
Joseph and Annie move a large table into the Mayor’s drawing room for the trial of Alexander Morden, the miner who accidentally killed Captain Bentick. Annie talks about several townspeople who have managed to escape the town overnight and headed towards England. Joseph responds by reporting that many people are talking about harming Corell as revenge for his betrayal.
Mayor Orden and Doctor Winter enter the room, dismissing the servants. Orden worries that neither the townspeople nor Lanser trust him but is confused on how to act. Though everyone knows that Alex Morden killed Captain Bentick and must be punished, the performance of a trial must continue to adhere to protocol.
Alex’s wife Molly arrives to speak with the mayor. Orden promises that he will not be the one to sentence Alex and has his wife accompany Molly home to keep her company. Orden and Winter are surprised to find that the townspeople know so much already, with Winter claiming, “That is a mystery that has disturbed rulers all over the world-how the people know” (44).
When Lanser arrives, he tells Orden that Alex’s punishment must be carried out as an example to the rest of the town. “We do not act alone or on our own judgement” (47) and Lanser must respect the protocol given to him. Orden refuses to condemn Alex to death, despite Lanser claiming that the sentence must come from him if they are to stop the town from revolting. Instead, Orden proposes that if Lanser executes the soldiers who killed the town’s small force of defense troops, Orden will in turn condemn Morden. Lanser immediately refuses and must condemn Alex himself.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
The location of the conquered town in The Moon is Down is left deliberately vague by Steinbeck. Proper names and cultural descriptions are minimized so that the town cannot be associated with a distinct place in reality. This allows the story to function as a parable for wartime ethics that is applicable to any location or set of people. Furthermore, the cultural similarity between the character names of both the townspeople and Lanser’s troops and their ability to understand each other without a language barrier, illustrates the fundamental universality of the ethics Steinbeck discusses in the novel.
After conquering the town, Colonel Lanser’s main objective is to fulfill the orders given to him by his superiors-remove coal from the mines and transport it to the front lines while subduing the residents-with Mayor Orden’s cooperation (19). Lanser respects Orden’s interpretation of his governmental role as the voice and movement of the people. By denying appointing Corell to mayorship, despite Corell’s help in conquering the town, Lanser displays respect for Orden and for the people he has conquered. Though Lanser is intent on following orders, his actions reveal his desire for cooperation, mutual respect, and limited violence against the people of the town.
Of the individuals on his staff and in the town, Colonel Lanser is the sole person who has experienced warfare before and know that it is “treachery and hatred” more than the idealistic heroism his staff expects (23). He understands the moral implications of their conquest of the town and anticipates the threat the townspeople pose to his troops. Lanser considers the rest of his staff to be “playing war” without a true understanding of what their actions mean for the people they have conquered. He explains to Corell, “I am tired of people who have not been at war who know all about it” when Corell attempts to wrest power away from Orden (35). To Lanser, the assignment of conquering the town not only causes tension with his inner morality, but it requires him to accept that he will be directly involved in facilitating the depression and violence his troops will face from the townspeople.
The propriety that Winter and Orden's wife discuss reflects their confusion, how unexpected the invasion was, and how they should best act. By fixating on social niceties and standards of procedure, Steinbeck emphasizes the town’s initial confusion as to how to treat their invaders. Orden’s wife regards them, initially, as guests and wishes to provide social comforts for Colonel Lanser when he visits because she regards him as holding the same social position as themselves. This is reflected in Lanser’s treatment of Orden as a man to respect and hold high in his opinion. This mutual respect implies that, had Lanser and his men met with Orden and his family at a time other than war, they could have moved in the same social circles and possibly been friends. Just as the vague setting of The Moon is Down emphasizes the universality of wartime ethics, the respectful relationship between Lanser and Orden implies that people of similar social and moral backgrounds can end up on opposite sides of a war with no choice but to act against one another.
The situation between the townspeople and the soldiers in this section remains precarious. There’s talk of townspeople planning to murder Corell, the spy among them, and the trial of Alex hangs over the characters’ heads. Alex’s trial signals a turning point in the novel, where the townspeople and the soldiers will become obviously opposed to one another.
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