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The Moon Is Down is a novel by American writer John Steinbeck. Fashioned for adaptation for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian King Haakon VII Freedom Cross, it was published by Viking Press in March 1942.
Steinbeck wrote The Moon is Down to uplift the morale of the allied forces during World War II. Modelled on the Nazi occupation in Norway, it tells the story of a military invasion on an unarmed small town in Northern Europe and the subsequent rise of the conquered against the conqueror.
The Moon is Down Summary. One Sunday morning an unnamed European town is invaded by a foreign military. The village’s twelve soldiers are at a competition organized by a storekeeper named Mr. Corell. This competition is in the woods outside of town, and by the time the troops realize what’s happened, it’s already too late—the enemy has ...
The Moon Is Down was published only three years after one of Steinbeck’s most famous novels, The Grapes of Wrath, a stunning feat of American Realism that examines the horrific destitution of poor people in Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl during the country’s Great Depression.
In “The Moon is Down,” John Steinbeck employs irony and satire to criticize the Nazi occupation of a small town in Norway during World War II. The novel portrays the invaders as incompetent and foolish, while the townspeople are portrayed as resilient and brave.
Published in March 1942 and inspired by Steinbeck’s work during the World Wars, The Moon is Down explores the psychological, moral, and ethical implications of a town occupied during wartime.
Against the fiercest assault on freedom during this century, John Steinbeck calmly reaffirmed in The Moon is Down the bedrock principles of democracy: the worth of the individual, and the power deriving from free citizens sharing common commitments.”
Nov 1, 1995 · Often referred to as “wartime propaganda”, Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down is a fairly short novella that really packs a punch by delving into some deep issues and themes amid war, and centers often on the interactions and conflicts between two sides.
Occupied by enemy troops, a small, peaceable town comes face-to-face with evil imposed from the outside–and betrayal born within the close-knit community. Originally published at the zenith of Nazi Germanyâ’s power, this masterful fable uncovers profound, often unsettling truths about war–and about human nature.
Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck’s self-described “celebration of the durability of democracy” had an extraordinary impact as Allied propaganda in Nazi-occupied Europe.
