The Moon is Down: What does the writing reveal about the author's values and attitudes? From what perspective does he/she write?

I really got a very strong message out of this story. It was seriously like nothing I have ever read, and there were several things in the text that revealed the authors values and attitudes. One thing that I think the author really believed is that everyone, no matter what side they are on or what they are fighting for, is human. Everyone longs for love, for comfort, for hope, for home, and for safety, no matter who they are fighting or what country they are from. Steinbeck writes from the perspective of people from both the opposing sides, and just like in real life, he described them as regular people. He didn’t describe the conquerors to be these evil, vile creatures. He described them for what they were: simple men doing what they were told to do, fighting for a cause they believed was right. Because he writes in these different perspectives, readers gain an understanding of what the people on each side is going through.  He describes members of the conquering party, calling one Major Hunter a “haunted man of figures,” Captain Bentick a “family man, a lover of dogs and pink children at Christmas”  and Lieutenants Prackle and Tonder “sentimental young men, given to tears and to furies” and so on.( Steinbeck pg. 21) He describes them like regular people, doing what they are being told to do because they are trying to help their country. The writing also reveals that Steinbeck believes there is a time for everything. There is a time for peace, and then for war, and in this case, there is a time to lay low, and a time to fight back. The people of this “country” (I read in the intro that it is believed to be Norway) start out laying low and causing no attention to come to themselves. They do what they are told with hateful spirits, and as the story goes on, it begins to frighten the people of the conquering country. Tonder even says, “These people! These horrible people! These cold people! They never look at you.” He shivered, “They never speak. They answer like dead men. They obey, these horrible people.” (Steinbeck pg. 63) But then, when the time is right, the people fight back! They devise plans and cause unrest and frighten the soldiers. They catch them off guard, and it proves to work. They begin to uprise.

Steinbeck, John. Moon Is Down. N.p.: Penguin Group, 1942. Print.