Colonel Lanser In John Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down

The Moon is Down is a novel written by John Steinbeck during World War II. It is a story of power between the head of the Invaders, Colonel Lanser and Mayor Orden, the town leader. I have been influenced as reader through Colonel Lanser’s changes throughout the book. Not only this, but his simple, yet truth-holding statements opened up my eyes to the actuality of this world. Colonel Lanser is first introduced to readers, who, aside from the fact is the enemy, is a man of great experience and authority. He felt as if Mayor Orden was not enforcing strict laws upon the town citizens as you can see in this quote: ‘“Always the people! The people are disarmed. The people have no say.”’ (Steinbeck, 18) According to the Mayor, the job of mining for coal was optional, which would not help Colonel Lanser’s cases. The Colonel believes he is superior to Mayor Orden, because he has seen the futility of war and is the leader of the group that has come over to this town. With time, Colonel Lanser sees that this town will not obey his laws. ‘“Can’t you understand that we are at war with these people?”’ (Steinbeck, 35) They feel they are only left with one option and that is to resort to violence, as
In the novel, he is stuck in an impossible reality, one of which he knows he will not be able to escape from. Colonel Lanser’ is faced with two options, both will result in ultimate defeat; to keep Mayor Orden alive and hope he will comply or kill Mayor Orden and hope the citizens will comply. He knows that if the Mayor stays alive, the townspeople will have a driving force pushing them towards resistance. The same outcome is possible, however, in killing Mayor Orden. As shown in the novel, ‘’The people don’t like to be conquered, sir, and so they will not be. Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat,’” (Steinbeck, 111), nothing can stop the