Compare and contrast of Mayor Orden and Colonel Lanser

Colonel Lanser and Mayor Orden are the two big forces of power in "The Moon is Down."  They are the two people who have the utmost say in any important situation.  Mayor Orden and Colonel Lanser are both very similar yet have some differences through out this novel.  Mayor Orden is the Mayor, weirdddd I know, of the little town that is invaded by the Nazi's in "The Moon is Down."  He is a sweet old man who is described as the guy who's been in office so long that even the elders of the town have his little head pop into their own head when they think of a mayor.  He appears as a kind of a shy guy who can't say no and maybe even a little frazzled, but he proves to be able to hold his ground.  Colonel Lanser is the leader of the Nazi's who invade this little town.  He tells Mayor Orden at the beginning he wasn't originally a Colonel but an engineer and that he just wants this process to be as easy as possible.  He isn't necessarily your typical stone cold Colonel you think of.  He enforces the law and his men respect him but he also understand these men are in crazy conditions, unexpected conditions, and need respect as well.  He served in World War I and he describes how he saw a lot of gruesome things in that war and how it's affected him personally and how he acts as a Colonel in this war.  These men are very similar in that they both want what's best and fight for what they think is right.  Neither of them are cold blooded killers and take action for no good reason but to entertain themselves.  Lanser does authorize to have a lot of people killed, which I don't think any of those deaths were necessary or right, but he was following protocol and was doing it because that is how he knew how to keep order.  Mayor Orden always made decisions that he thought would be best for everyone in his town, never to benefit himself.  The biggest difference I saw between Mayor Orden and Colonel Lanser was the fact that Colonel Lanser was able to kill people, Mayor Orden was not.  I still think that the Colonel was following protocol and didn’t want to kill anyone, but nevertheless had you put Mayor Orden into the Colonel’s position I doubt he would have been able to pull the trigger.  Wait a second!  That was punny!!  I meant “to pull the trigger” as in to authorize the killing of people but it ended up being a pun!  Oh happy day!  Alright back to the point!  To sum it up, I thought that both authority figures were very similar and could have switched places and age would have been the only give away.  This will make this blog 500 words.


Simon, Marion, and C. Bosker. John Steinbeck: The Moon Is down. Paterswolde: Dalcomtext, 1997. Print.