The Palace Symbol Analysis

Mayor Orden and Madame Orden’s palace serves as a hub of influence in The Moon Is Down. At least, this is what Colonel Lanser and his soldiers hope when they decide to take up quarters on the palace’s second floor. “We have found that when a staff lives under the roof of the local authority, there is more tranquility,” Lanser tells Orden. In other words, the conquerors want to appear as if they’re working together with the “local authority” so that the townspeople are less likely to resist their orders. In this way, Lanser conflates the palace with power and control, treating it as emblematic of Mayor Orden’s leadership. Of course, Orden himself rejects the notion that as mayor he has the authority to command his people—rather, he prefers to allow them to inform his decisions—and so Lanser’s occupation of the palace does very little in the way of helping to pacify or subordinate the villagers. Furthermore, the palace itself is symbolic of the negative effect the invaders have on the town. Indeed, at the end of the novella, Doctor Winter notices that one of the drawing-room chairs—which were all so perfectly and meticulously tended by Joseph before the conquerors arrived—has a rip in its upholstery. As such, what was once a sterling set of furniture now shows the marks of wear and fatigue, further highlighting how Colonel Lanser and his soldiers are a detriment to the town. Ironically enough, the invading soldiers now live in the very palace they’re destroying, and although they’ve come no closer to fully conquering or dominating the villagers, they have trapped themselves within a deteriorating environment they once thought communicated power and supremacy. In this way, the palace is a symbol of authority and power, but it symbolizes the authority of the people and the power of democracy rather than the power of any one man or group of men.