Lieutenant Tonder

In The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck, the reader is introduced to a very unique character when the army begins their occupation of the village. His name is Lieutenant Tonder and he is one of the soldiers that work closely with Captain Lanser. When Tonder is first introduced he is described as a man who joined the army for the glamorous aspects of it and is like a little kid playing soldier (Steinbeck 23). It also mentions that he dreams of a glorious death fighting for the army and being memorialized (Steinbeck 23). The description even mentions that Tonder has his last words picked out (Steinbeck 23). As he occupies the town he decides that he wouldn't mind living there with a small farm and thinks that the townspeople are friendly (Steinbeck 30). This attitude changes and just in a few months he begins to hate the town and says, "I'd like to get out of this Godforsaken hole!" (Steinbeck 61). He hates the town because all of the people are cold and full of hatred, and this hits Tonder hard because he was led to believe that the townspeople would welcome the soldiers with open arms (Steinbeck 61). His hatred of staying in town is very important to the story because it leads to his descent into loneliness and insanity. He begins to become paranoid and starts to think that the servants are poisoning his coffee (Steinbeck 61). This instability in Tonder leads him into a rant about how he dreamt that "the Leader" is crazy and that "Flies conquer the fly-paper" (Steinbeck 68). Tonder's rant signifies a chink in the armor of the army. It shows that they are not all confident in their conquest and think that the townspeople may defeat them after all. This chink in the armor grows in size when Tonder decides to take comfort in a beautiful villager named Molly (Steinbeck 72). Molly understands that Tonder is lonely, but she still hates him since he is a soldier (Steinbeck 72). This hatred leads Molly to kill Tonder with a pair of scissors on her front porch, which is ironic because Tonder wanted some grand demise (Steinbeck 81). This is the second time a soldier is murdered and it shows that the townspeople that the army is not invincible, but very vulnerable.

Bibliography: Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York. Penguin Group USA, 2009. Print