Name
Course
Tutor
Institution
Date
The Moon is Down
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck is a 1942 novel written to aid in the allied effort during the world war 2. It is propaganda as pure as freshly fallen snow, as righteous and moral as love for humanity. We should read the book because it is propaganda in affirming freedom, self-determination, and the indomitable will of people to persevere and overcome. As the book does not directly name Norway or Germany, the reader can understand that the setting is Norway during the Nazi German occupation, which started in 1940. The book is written for easy adaptation to the theatre, and Steinbeck evokes Ibsen with his play-like, scene-focused action, Ray (2020).
Moreover, when the novel was printed, Nazi German forces occupied much of Europe and North Africa, and the Anglo-American and Russian allied forces had to check Nazi aggression and expansion. Steinbeck has developed an easy, strident, and moving declaration of the indomitable will of the people who refuse to give in to tyranny. The character Mayor Orden, a symbol of unassuming yet steadfast resistance and leadership, sums up the novel’s theme when he says, “Our people are invaded, but I do not think they are conquered.”
Also, as the novel is written as intelligent propaganda for the allies in world war 2 and reading, it seems massively effective and influential in the concept across many occupied countries. As it is criticized as being over-simplistic, the novel stands extremely well indeed as a novel in its own right; written and with such clarity, it goes to the heart of the human experience and is all the more powerful doing so.
Work cited
Ray, William. “Steinbeck’s Mayor.” Steinbeck Review 17.1 (2020): 16-36.