The Moon is Down

by

John Steinbeck

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Doctor Winter Character Analysis

The town’s local historian and physician, and Mayor Orden’s confidante. Winter is an intelligent man who has known Orden since boyhood. His intelligence and wisdom arise from his gentle simplicity and penchant for unhurried observation. It is exactly this capacity for observation that puts Colonel Lanser on edge the first time the two meet, when Winter alludes to the fact that he will include the invasion in the history he’s writing about the town. This remark is a calculated attempt to remind the colonel that, as an fascist invader, he is on the wrong side of history—it is exactly this kind of subtle but meaningful aside that marks Doctor Winter as a shrewd man worthy of standing at the mayor’s side as both an advocate for democracy and a moral anchor.

Doctor Winter Quotes in The Moon is Down

The The Moon is Down quotes below are all either spoken by Doctor Winter or refer to Doctor Winter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Democracy and Conquest Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

Winter said, “I would guess it is for the show. There’s an idea about it: if you go through the form of a thing, you have it, and sometimes people are satisfied with the form of a thing. We had an army—soldiers with guns—but it wasn’t an army, you see. The invaders will have a trial and hope to convince the people that there is justice involved. Alex did the captain, you know.”

Related Characters: Doctor Winter (speaker), Mayor Orden, Alexander Morden
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Winter walked to one of the gilt chairs, and as he was about to sit down he noticed that its tapestry was torn, and he petted the seat with his fingers as though that would mend it. And he sat down gently because it was torn.

Related Characters: Mayor Orden, Doctor Winter, Joseph
Page Number: 105
Explanation and Analysis:

You know, Doctor, I am a little man and this is a little town, but there must be a spark in little men that can burst into flame. I am afraid, I am terribly afraid, and I thought of all the things I might do to save my own life, and then that went away, and sometimes now I feel a kind of exultation, as though I were bigger and better than I am, and do you know what I have been thinking, Doctor? […] Do you remember in school, in the Apology? Do you remember Socrates says, “Someone will say, ‘And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end?’ To him I may fairly answer, ‘There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether he is doing right or wrong.’”

Related Characters: Mayor Orden (speaker), Doctor Winter
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Moon is Down PDF

Doctor Winter Quotes in The Moon is Down

The The Moon is Down quotes below are all either spoken by Doctor Winter or refer to Doctor Winter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Democracy and Conquest Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

Winter said, “I would guess it is for the show. There’s an idea about it: if you go through the form of a thing, you have it, and sometimes people are satisfied with the form of a thing. We had an army—soldiers with guns—but it wasn’t an army, you see. The invaders will have a trial and hope to convince the people that there is justice involved. Alex did the captain, you know.”

Related Characters: Doctor Winter (speaker), Mayor Orden, Alexander Morden
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Winter walked to one of the gilt chairs, and as he was about to sit down he noticed that its tapestry was torn, and he petted the seat with his fingers as though that would mend it. And he sat down gently because it was torn.

Related Characters: Mayor Orden, Doctor Winter, Joseph
Page Number: 105
Explanation and Analysis:

You know, Doctor, I am a little man and this is a little town, but there must be a spark in little men that can burst into flame. I am afraid, I am terribly afraid, and I thought of all the things I might do to save my own life, and then that went away, and sometimes now I feel a kind of exultation, as though I were bigger and better than I am, and do you know what I have been thinking, Doctor? […] Do you remember in school, in the Apology? Do you remember Socrates says, “Someone will say, ‘And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end?’ To him I may fairly answer, ‘There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether he is doing right or wrong.’”

Related Characters: Mayor Orden (speaker), Doctor Winter
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis: