Comparing Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down And Animal Farm

In many stories, the enemy is defeated in the final battle. But in the books The Moon is Down and Animal Farm, the opposing force is conquered early in the story. The catch is, destroying the main force does not always end the fighting. In The Moon is Down, the army defeats the town but do not control the people. In Animal Farm, the animals chase away the humans only for the pigs to take their place. Just because they win, it does not mean there are not going to be future battles. “‘Conquest after conquest, deeper into the molasses.’ His laugher choked him and he coughed into his handkerchief. ‘Maybe the Leader is crazy. Flies conquer the flypaper. Flies capture two hundred miles of new flypaper!’” (Steinbeck, 68). In this quote, Lieutenant Tonder finally realizes what the war truly was. They have conquered the flypaper, they have conquered most of Europe. All these soldiers must do is watch the people and ship the coal. But just as flies get stuck in flypaper, the soldiers find themselves stuck in a town of people who will not submit to their authority. They make …show more content…
“I will not lie to you, Lieutenant. They should have trained you for this, and not for flower-strewn streets. They should have built your soul with truth, not led it along with lies.” (Steinbeck, 99). They thought that they had won, that it was all over the moment they stepped into town. But once Tonder realized the truth, that war is difficult and hostile, he went crazy. Everything he had been told was a lie, just as it was with the animals. Had they known what the future held for them, they would have fought to change their outcome. After all, a fly does not land on the flypaper because it wants to get stuck. But by the time the soldiers and animals realize what had happened, it is already too late, they were stuck in enemy territory with no one to get them