The Moon is Down

by

John Steinbeck

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An engineer in the military that invades the town. Major Hunter is more of an arithmetician than a soldier, and spends the vast majority of his time indoors, where he sketches engineering plans for the railroad the invaders are building between the town’s coal mine and the waterfront. A literalist, he is very technically-inclined and rarely does more than work on his drawings, occasionally adding a remark or two to whatever conversation people like Colonel Lanser or the lieutenants are having around him as he works. He even enjoys his work, delighting in how much he gets to design and engineer because of the fact that the townspeople are constantly destroying the railroad system. It’s a pleasure for him to have a seemingly never-ending amount of work, and so he’s unfazed by the bombs that so consistently set his projects behind schedule.
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Major Hunter Character Timeline in The Moon is Down

The timeline below shows where the character Major Hunter appears in The Moon is Down. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
Democracy and Conquest Theme Icon
Appearances and Civility Theme Icon
...palace. Captain Bentick is a kind man obsessed with acting like a British gentleman. Major Hunter is an arithmetician who spends most of his time drawing and engineering plans for a... (full context)
Order, Control, and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Appearances and Civility Theme Icon
...palace after a patrol shift. While taking off many pieces of equipment, he tells Major Hunter and Lieutenant Prackle that he has just seen Bentick, who is overseeing the townspeople as... (full context)
Order, Control, and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Lieutenant Tonder enters the room and looks over Hunter’s shoulder, asking why he’s designing a bridge. Embarrassed, Hunter tells him the drawing is for... (full context)
Democracy and Conquest Theme Icon
Empathy and the Effects of Fascism Theme Icon
...asks to speak with the colonel alone, and Lanser dismisses Tonder and Prackle, leaving Major Hunter in peace because the man hears nothing while working on his engineering projects. (full context)
Chapter 5
Democracy and Conquest Theme Icon
Empathy and the Effects of Fascism Theme Icon
...tense conditions, the officers seek refuge in the mayoral palace. One night, Prackle, Tonder, and Hunter sit in the darkness, the room lit only by lanterns because the town’s dynamo has... (full context)
Chapter 7
Democracy and Conquest Theme Icon
...mysterious items and bring them to the palace, where Colonel Lanser, Captain Loft, and Major Hunter examine them. Hunter tells Lanser that the packages contain sticks of dynamite that, while simple,... (full context)