Understanding The Moon is Down

1883 Words4 Pages

War affects everyone involved - the conquerors and those being conquered. War is a struggle that is internal and external. Man can be a dedicated and loyal soldier for only so much at a time. He then longs for laughter, music, girls, a good meal and more. In The Moon is Down, the soldiers feel the need to return home. They begin to doubt what they are doing and if they are being told the truth. They become uneasy when the enemy doesn't talk to them. The townspeople's hatred is growing. They remained indoors and stared from behind curtains while the patrol walked through the town.

Lieutenant Tonder was a romantic naive poet who felt the enemy should love him. Steinbeck presented Tonder as "a bitter poet who dreamed of perfect, ideal love of elevated young men for poor girls" (25).

When Lieutenant Tonder first arrived in town he thought that it was a nice country with nice people. Tonder says, "There are some beautiful farms here. If four or five of them were thrown together, it would be a nice place to settle, I think" (34). The war was not ending as quickly as Tonder expected. The townspeople had become the silent enemies of the soldiers or the townspeople became silent waiting for revenge. "Now it was the conqueror was surrounded, the men of the battalion alone among silent enemies, and no man might relax his guard for even a moment" (65). The soldiers now have only each other to talk to and Tonder longed to go home. "The men of the battalion came to detest the place they had conquered,...and gradually a little fear began to grow in the conquerors, a fear that it would never be over" (65-66). In war, as time goes on fear begins to settle on soldiers. "Thus it came about that the conquerors grew afraid of the conquered and their nerves wore thin and they shot at shadows in the night" (66-67). Tonder starts to doubt the honesty of his fellow Germans Tonder says, "If anything happened- at home, I mean - do you think they would let us know...well, I would like to get out of this god-forsaken hole!" (70-71). Tonder felt at first that this town had nice, pleasant people but as time moved on, he changed his views. "These people! These horrible people! These cold people! They never look at you.

Show More
Related

  • An Inside Look at Homeschooling

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    Homeschooling offers flexibility and can be a stress reliever for many. Home school gives children the opportunity to learn when they learn best, whether that be in the morning or in the afternoon. Some children prefer to work alone others with their peers. The parents will determine what their child’s learning style is. If the child need more or less time on a subject then they will have the chance to go over the subject as many time it is necessary for the student to learn it, or in the other hand if they completely comprehend the subject they can make a decision to skip it. A flexible schedule gives these options and many more to students compared to public or private schooling.

    Read More

  • Destruction in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front

    1541 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story takes place through the eyes of a German infantryman named Paul Baumer. He is nineteen and just joined up with the German army after high school with the persuasion of one of his schoolteachers, Mr. Kantorek. Paul recalls how he would use all class period lecturing the students, peering through his spectacles and saying: "Won't you join up comrades?"(10). Here was a man who loved war. He loved the "glory" of war. He loved it so much as to persuade every boy in his class to join up with the army. He must have thought how proud they would be marching out onto that field in their military attire.

    Read More

  • The Brothers K

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    	The novel illuminates light on the situation not just during the Vietnam era, but also rather throughout all history and the future to come. Throughout mankind’s occupation of earth, we have been plagued by war and the sufferings caused by it. Nearly every generation of people to walk this earth have experienced a great war once in their lifetimes. For instance, Vietnam for my father’s generation, World War 2 for my grandfather’s, and World War 1 for my great-grandfather’s. War has become an unavoidable factor of life. Looking through history and toward the future, I grow concerned over the war that will plague my generation, for it might be the last war.

    Read More

  • How Americas Views On War Changed Over Time

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nothing can impact society like war. War can be viewed as noble and just, or cruel and inhuman, as well as everything in between. War affects everyone in society whether they are fighting in a foreign country or waiting at home for a loved one to return. War is an indispensable part of civilization; found at every chapter of human history. It is the culmination of the basic survival instinct when provoked. As has the technique of battle; society's view on war has changed as well. Today the act of war has become almost shameful, whereas in earlier eras war was glorified and heroic. American society's view on war has changed also. Our history, even as a young country has seen a great deal of conflict.

    Read More

  • Storm of Steel Reading Response Essay

    1567 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jünger’s opening chapter recalls the enthusiastic first thoughts on entering the war, upon arrival in Champagne, “Grown up in an age of security, we shared a yearning for danger, for the experience of the extraordinary. We were enraptured by war .” Though the illusion was soon dispelled, throughout the novel Jünger did not seem to be phased by the reality of his mission. When Jünger described reaching Orainville, he wrote, “We saw only a few, ragged, shy civilians; everywhere eels soldiers in worn tattered tunics, with faces weather-beaten and often with a heavy growth of beard, strolling along at a slow pace, or standing in little clusters in doorways, watching our arrival with ribald remarks .” This is Jünger’s first of a pattern of acc...

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine being in an ongoing battle where friends and others are dying.  All that is heard are bullets being shot, it smells like gas is near, and hearts race as the times go by.  This is similar to what war is like.  In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator, Paul Baumer, and his friends encounter the ideals of suffering, death, pain, and despair.  There is a huge change in these men; at the beginning of feel the same way about it.  During the war the men experience many feelings, especially the loss of loved ones.  These feelings are shown through their first experience at training camp, during the actual battles, and in the hospital.  Training camp was the first actuality of what war was going to be like for the men.  They thought that it would be fun, and they could take pride in defending their country.  Their teacher, Kantorek, told them that they should all enroll in the war.  Because of this, almost all of the men in the class enrolled.  It was in training camp that they met their cruel corporal, Himelstoss.&nbs most by him.  They have to lie down in the mud and practice shooting and jumping up.  Also, these three men must remake Himelstoss’ bed fourteen times, until it is perfect.  Himelstoss puts the young men through so much horror that they yearn for their revenge.  Himelstoss is humiliated when he goes to tell on Tjaden, and Tjaden only receives an easy punishment.  Training camp is as death and destruction.  Training camp is just a glimpse of what war really is.  The men do not gain full knowledge of war until they go to the front line.   The front line is the most brutal part of the war.  The front line is the place in which the battles are fought.  Battles can only be described in one word- chaos.  Men are running around trying to protect themselves while shooting is in the trench with an unknown man from the other side.  This battle begins with shells bursting as they hit the ground and machine guns that rattle as they are being fired.  In order to ensure his survival, Paul must kill the other man.  First, Paul stabs the man, but he struggles for his life.  He dies shortly after, and Paul discovers who he has killed.  The man is Gerald Duval, a printer.&n Having to deal with killing others is one of the horrors of war. The men who are killed and the people who kill them could have been friends, if only they were on the same side.    The other important battle leaves both Paul and Kropp with injuries.

    Read More

  • The Attitudes Of War In The Vietnam War By Tim O Brien

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    Like many other wars, the Vietnam War left a devastating impact on the soldiers and civilians alike. The Vietnam War created conflict as most of the American citizens were opposed to US military involvement. Many men were drafted and forced to join the military against their will, those who refused had to flee to other nations or face imprisonment. The attitude toward the war was overwhelmingly negative from the beginning and only worsened as horrifying video coverage was broadcasted in the living room of America. The war became all too real for the public; they could not imagine the atrocities that were being committed by all involved in the war.

    Read More

  • Diction In A Separate Peace

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.

    Read More

  • Home Schooling

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lines, P. (1995). Home Schooling. ERIC Digest, Number 95. Retrieved April 23, 2003, from http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed381849.html

    Read More

  • The Effect of War in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    War has always been something to be dreaded by people since nothing good comes from it. War affects people of all ages, cultures, races and religion. It brings change, destruction and death and these affect people to great extents. “Every day as a result of war and conflict thousands of civilians are killed, and more than half of these victims are children” (Graca & Salgado, 81). War is hard on each and every affected person, but the most affected are the children.

    Read More

  • In Another Country of Hemingway

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    The word "war" is always horrible to man especially with who has been exposed to. It is destruction, death, and horrible suffers that has been with all man's life. In the short story "In Another Country", Ernest Hemingway shows us the physical and emotional tolls of the war as well as its long-term consequences on man's life. He also portrays the damaging effects that the war has on the lives of the Italians and even of the Americans.

    Read More

  • Home Schooling

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Home education is one of the fastest growing alternative forms of education to public schooling (Cook, 1999; Withrow, 1999). Approximately one million children or more are being educated in their homes because of the success of homeschooling. (Two Takes on Homeschooling, 1997) The increase of students does not seem to be slowing down, and with growing concern over the public schools, the growth of the homeschooling movement is inevitable.

    Read More

  • homeschooling

    884 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the past decade homeschooling has grown in America much more than we could estimate, 1.5 million students are now learning at home, that’s a 75% increase from 1999, Parents have become more unsatisfied by the public schooling systems and its effects on their children concerned that their children could be exposed to violence, bullying or even drugs.

    Read More

  • The Disadvantages Of Homeschooling

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    Homeschooling also known as home education refers to the education of the children inside the home as opposed to a formal setting of a private or public school. This practice is on the rise with statistics showing that today more than two million kids are taught at home. Although many scholars support education that is offered in formal settings such as schools, homeschooling has been an effective alternative to a cheaper more wholesome method of educating children. This practice has immense positive effects on a child physically, mentally and socially with very dismal differences in terms of a child performance when compared to education offered in stricter environments such as a school. In this thesis, I will study the positive effects of homeschooling as a means of offering education. Home-schooling may have different effects on each child, although, many studies conformed that home-schooling children will result in healthy minded children because of the healthy surrounding environment, the parental supervision and the guidance of a

    Read More

  • Pros and Cons of Home Schooling

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every parent is faced with the decision of whether or not to home school their child. While some families may find home schooling as being very helpful and beneficial to their child’s education, others may find that it is crucial their child be sent to a normal school. Some parents are hesitant to send their children to public school because of crime and lack of discipline and also because they fear that the quality of education is declining. Parents may also feel that sending their child to school will aid in their social development. Home schooling has both advantages and disadvantages which aid parents in this difficult decision.

    Read More

More about Understanding The Moon is Down

Open Document