The Moon is Down Chapter 8

After finishing the novel I feel incomplete. The book just seems to end out of no where. The chapter starts with Doctor Winter going to visit Mayor Orden after they have been both arrested. Orden brings up a speech he gave at his graduation forty-six years ago. He quoted a portion of Socrates' Apology. Dr. Winter and Colonel Lanser help prompt Orden in his speech until he can remember no more of it. The three men then discuss the dynamite and how Lanser wants to stop its use. Orden and Winter say that they cannot control if the people can use it or not. "'But you think they will light it?' Lanser insisted. The Mayor spoke proudly, 'Yes they will light it. I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir- I do have a choice of how I do it. If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but the will fight. If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brave man will have made them a little braver.'" (Steinbeck 110-111). The Mayor has so much faith in his people to do the right thing and fight back against the enemy who invaded them. He believes that his people do not want to be conquered so they will not let themselves be. It was only a matter of time.

I think that Mayor Orden is a great leader. He knows that his people will fight back and he will most likely be killed by the soldiers, and has accepted that fact. "No- They can't arrest the Mayor. The Mayor is an idea conceived by free men. It will escape arrest." (Steinbeck 112). Orden means that even when he is killed the idea of freedom will not leave the people. His last request of Doctor Winter in the novel is if he will repay the debt. I was not sure what that meant, so after looking it up I found that it means when Orden dies if Winter will still make sure the people resist the enemy.

Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York: Penguin Classics, 1942. Print.