The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck

"You won't believe this but it is true: authority is in the town."

It could be that my short stay in the earth might be hindering my expertise but, there's not many authors that manage to evoke the duality of the conquered and the conquerors in the way that Steinbeck does in this novel. It may be something superficial but it is indeed something wonderful, alluring and precisely humble. The experience of being conquered is portrayed beautifully so that the collective anxiety of the characters is felt even within oneself.

Society holds the power, a power so hegemonic that it cannot even be digested betwixt bureaucrats. A person cannot be withheld from their nonchalant ways of practicing freedom. Once this is destroyed, the soul is at stake and one cannot help but feeling distressed. "Your private anger was the beginning of public anger". As I remarked in my review of Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck always contrives for camaraderie between his characters, and The Moon is Down is no exception to the rule. This is camaraderie in the most sincere and plentiful way, evoked as public angst. It's felt even within the ranks of the army and inevitably feared. Soldiers are portrayed as wooden figures but they're also portrayed as men capable of feeling fear and capable of missing the taste of the golden apples of life. They are subject to temptations and they are worthy of life. So in that case, The Moon is Down is not only of the imprisonment of civilians but also the imprisonment of soldiers
"We have some right to life in all the killing"

Thus the duality reveals itself. Suffering is shared with everyone. Depriving a man from his free will is condemning his soul. Punishment is absurd when the lighthouse that every condemned carries with himself dissipates the fog brought by slavery. Punishment is not individual, it is therefore collective.
The moon is down, while people cannot contemplate their light.

Verdict: The Moon is Down has a simple style and simple narrative. Not much could be accomplished if this hadn't been written by the great Steinbeck himself. The symbolism is powerful and it was quite nice to see him separated from his usual Californian-depressionesque plot. He approaches a topic that is both familiar and unfamiliar to him and does so amazingly. The triad of John Steinbeck (symbolic, light and personal) shines throughout this novel. He has never disappointed me and I doubt he ever will. Still my favorite American author.

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