The Moon Is Down is a story about conquest, and it is immediately established as such as the policeman and the mailman watch helplessly as the unwelcome invaders take over their small, peaceful town. The fact that the two men are government officials is very significant, and a sign of things to come, as it shows how little power the authorities have to prevent the enemy from taking over.
However, it is also a story about civility, the importance of it, and its usefulness as a weapon of stealth and propaganda. Steinbeck establishes the enemy nation as one that is intent upon wearing a veneer of civility that does not really exist underneath; in fact, it is an occupying force that is the very opposite of civilized. They play music in the town square to make it appear that they are not just there to ransack the town. They even warn the mayor of their arrival so that he is able to prepare. This is a theme not only throughout the novella but also in Nazi Germany as a whole; everything that was part of Hitler's plans was operated under the guise of being something else. From daycare centers and schools that turned out to be transit centers for the death camps, to packaging the death camps as "work camps" with the exhortation above the gates "Arbeit macht Frei" (work means freedom), appearances of civility and culture were maintained almost obsessively.
The importance of appearances in the story is not confined to the invaders; the townspeople are guilty of making assumptions based on who a person appears to be rather than on the person that they are. An example of this is Dr Winter's discovery that Corell is an informer and has been collaborating with the Germans for some time, divulging knowledge about the town, its weapons, and its inhabitants. Dr Winter is shocked primarily because Corell has a good reputation in the town. He knows almost everyone because of his job of proprietor of the store, and is friendly and personable. He is very well-regarded which is what makes his collaboration with the enemy such a shock. Winter is guilty of making assumptions because of the veneer of civility that Corell has covered himself with. This is what the Germans are trying to do in maintaining culture and seeming to be very civilized.
Dr Winter is also a good example of the confusion that evolves during war time about both civility and propriety. There are rules of behavior in peace time and different rules for dealing with one's invaders and Winter is confused by the difference between the two. This confusion is echoed by the Mayor's wife, who urges him to trim his nose hair before he meets Colonel Lanser so that he makes a good impression. The Mayor seems to suffer no such confusion and grasps immediately that the normal rules of civility can be temporarily abandoned. This is evident in the way he does not bother to neaten his hair and in the way his clothes appear. He also struggles to explain to his wife that there are two different rules for civility and that civility and democracy are not the same thing. He reminds her that the enemy killed six people at random that very morning and by telling her this he also brings others' attention to the fact that there are killers beneath the veneer of civility that their invaders have cultivated. It is merely an act and he is the first person to realize this.
Dr Winter also keeps the town's records, a documented history, in his notes. It is an official task that gives him an importance that he wears well but it is also a role that even Lanser realizes gives him gravitas. Lanser is also uneasy around the doctor because he seems to know that his actions will be forever in the narrative of the town and that he is going to appear to be on the wrong side of history. Again, everything that Lanser is concerned with is connected to the appearance of things.
Throughout the novella the one constant is Orden's ability to see through Lanser. This frustrates Lanser because he wants to frame everything to do with the invasion as "procedural", again making it appear to be something other than what it is. He believes that if the townspeople are told by Orden that obedience and compliance with their invaders is "procedure" and will help maintain order then they are far more likely to comply. Orden again tries to explain democracy to Lanser who just doesn't seem to get it. He believes the people have no power, and that they will obey because he has conquered them. Orden stresses upon him the concept of the power of the people and tells him that they made him but can just as easily unmake him if they want to. This is something that Lanser is never able to grasp. He believes that if he gives the people the appearance of maintaining the way that their lives have always been then they will be fooled into believing it. Appearances are everything to the invaders.
