Molly Morden in The Moon is Down

Molly Morden is one of my favorite characters in the book "The Moon is Down" by John Steinbeck. Molly is described as being about thirty years old and very pretty. She dressed plainly, but neatly. Molly was the wife of Alexander Morden and had glasses that she only wore when she had to.  I especially enjoyed Molly's character because of her character traits. One of the first reasons would probably be because she is a woman like myself, so I am able to relate more easily to her than say one of the male Nazi soldiers. Molly is also very independent, which is an admirable trait as well. Molly displays her independence and confidence in numerous occasions. One of the first would be when she goes to confront Mayor Orden about the execution of her husband, Alexander Morden. Alexander Morden was going to be publicly executed for the murder of Captain Bentick. He was talking about quitting his job, and when commanded to go back to work, Alex stood up for himself and his freedom and attacked Captain Loft, but in the process accidentally killed Captain Bentick. Molly then went to the mayor to help his case. " 'Alex is not a murdering man,' she said. 'He's a quick-tempered man, but he's never broken a law. He's a respected man' " (Steinbeck, 44). After the death of her husband, Molly once again had to be independent and take care of herself. An example of this would be when Lieutenant Tonder came to visit her. Molly was able to handle the situation and ultimately had him under her control even if he was not aware of it. Another trait about Molly is that she is loyal. She is loyal to the townspeople and never becomes involved with the Nazi soldiers. She was also faithful to her husband while he was on trial and faithful to him even after he was gone. She shows her faithfulness by not letting Lieutenant Tonder take advantage of her and revenging Alexander by killing Lieutenant Tonder with shears from her scissors.

Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down, by John Steinbeck,... Stockholm: Continental Book C°, 1949. Print.