The main
theme in The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
is democracy. I do not know how to word
it myself so I looked it up online. The
definition of democracy is “a government in which the supreme power is vested
in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of
representation usually involving periodically held free elections” (Democracy). In a shortened version of that, a democracy is
a government in which there is someone in charge but the people have some say
in what is decided.
In The Moon is Down, the little town was a
democracy before it was invaded by the Nazi’s and then everything changed. It actually became the exact opposite type of
government. The town became a
dictatorship, which means that there is one and only one ruler that makes all
the decisions. The people have no say in
the choices that the dictator makes. The
main thing I am trying to show is that the Nazi’s changed the town drastically. The little town was happy, peaceful and
democratic and then it became destroyed, rattled and over controlled by a
dictator. The townspeople were told that
the invasion would go at a pace where they would be comfortable but what
actually happened was a lot different than that. One day the Nazi soldiers just invaded all at
once and enslaved the people in this town.
They were forced to work in the coal mines. Sadly, the people have to obey and do the
work otherwise they would be severely punished.
After
reading the novel, you can see that John Steinbeck knows what he is talking
about and has an idea of what is going on, especially in life. He knows that life is full of changes,
whether they are big or small, planned or unplanned. John Steinbeck shows us that life is
difficult and that the world is a cruel place.
"Democracy." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
Steinbeck, John. Novels, 1942-1952: The Moon Is Down
; Cannery Row ; The Pearl ; East of Eden New York : Literary Classics of the United States
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