The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Lunar revolutionaries draw heavily from the symbols of the American Revolution and the First French Revolution. These allusions in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress symbolize the connections between the fictional Lunar revolution with these 18th-century historical revolutions. One key example of French Revolutionary symbolism is the red “Liberty Caps” “with a bulge in the front” worn by the Lunar revolutionaries (25). These “caps,” known as phryges in French, are peasant caps that were worn by republicans fighting against the monarchy in revolutionary France. (This style of cap was the mascot for the 2024 Paris Olympics.) 

As the rebels begin to plan their rebellion, they use these Liberty Caps to identify themselves. The first time Manuel sees one of these caps is during the first meeting he attends in Chapter 2. At the beginning of the meeting, a “banner unfolded over [the] platform” reading “LIBERTY! EQUALITY! FRATERNITY!” (27). This is the motto of the French Republic. During the Lunar rebellion, Mike “rewrote lyrics of old revolutionary songs,” including the “Marseillaise,” a song sung by republican revolutionaries during the French Revolution and the national anthem of the contemporary French Republic. Fittingly, Manuel himself was born on Bastille Day, July 14, a critical day of the First French Revolution and a French national holiday.