The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

A Twilight Zone Episode

Rod Serling

Rod Serling is probably best known for creating and hosting The Twilight Zone. This popular television series, often seen now in reruns, aired from 1959 to 1965. It featured stories of the eerie unknown, some of them written by Serling. Having begun in radio, Serling went on to write for TV and movies, the most famous of which was the science-fiction script for The Planet of the Apes. He won four Emmy awards.

Themes

Prejudice and fear are two recurring themes in Serling’s work. “I’ve always tried to attack prejudice more than any other social evil,” he once said. “I’ve always felt that prejudice is probably the most damaging, the most jeopardizing, the most fruitless of human frailities. I think prejudice is a waste and its normal end is violence.”

Anticipation Guide

• “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”• Fears exist that are universal for almost all

human beings.• Life exists on other planets.• People are more likely to pull together than

turn on each other when they feel threatened.

Narrator’s Voice p. 755

• Read the section and write Trouble Slips.• Address the Trouble Slips.• Students write an objective summary of the

section.

Using the words below, write some possible sentences that could appear in the teleplay

antagonism defiant idiosyncrasy

intense optimistic contorted

flustered incriminate legitimate

persistent metamorphosis scapegoat

Read & Or Watch the Teleplay

Final Narrator’s Voice

• Read and create Trouble Slips.• Discuss the Trouble Slips.• Write an objective summary of this section.• How does it relate to the first Narrator’s

Voice?

What is Serling Saying About Us?

Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines….one to the other.

Reflection

The comic strip character, Pogo, said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” How does this relate to the teleplay?

Application

• The major characters in thisteleplay are men. What aboutthe women? What was theirrole? Does this reflect genderrelationships today?

What happened the next day?

Write the script.

Alternate Assignment

Put Charlie on trial for the murder of Pete Van Horn. Write the script of his trial.

Examining Mob Mentality

• http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx

• Think about a character. What decisions did your character make that contributed to the citizens forming a mob?

Mob Mentality

• Define “individuation” as you think the dictionary does.

• Give a personal example of a time you experienced or witnessed diffusion of responsibility.

• How was the Maple Street group typical and atypical of mobs as described in the article?

Stage Directions and MoodRead each stage direction and explain what it suggests about the setting or characters.

Steve: The two of us can go Charlie. (He turns to look back at the car.) It couldn’t be the meteor. A meteor couldn’t do this. (He and Charlie exchanged a look. Then they start to walk away from the group.)(Fade in on Maple street at night. On the sidewalk, little knots of people stand around talking in low voices. At the end of each conversation they look toward Les Goodman’s house. From the various houses, we can see candlelight but no electricity.)Voice Three: Make the kid answer! (The crowd starts to converge around the mother, who grabs Tommy and starts to run with him. The crowd starts to follow, at first walking fast, and then running after him.)

Valid and Invalid Conclusions

Are these valid or invalid?• We know that the reasons Mr. Grant has given for opposing

the construction of this building are worthless because he hasn’t paid his rent for two months.

• “I would like to hire Elizabeth Leroy as a babysitter,” Mrs. Collins told her husband. “I think she’s a reliable person. Last summer she had a job at the library, and the librarian said Elizabeth always came to work on time.”

Valid or Invalid?

The coach refused to accept the new boy on the team. “He missed too many meets in his previous school,” the coach said.

“But I hear that over the summer he changed a lot,” said Jim, on of the team members. “Maybe you could give him a break.”

“The last time I gave a kid like him a break we lost the championship,” the coach said. “Kids like him never learn.”

Valid or Invalid?

Where in the story do the characters make invalid conclusions? Were they false inferences or hasty generalizations?

Participles

A participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective. The present participle is formed by adding –ing to the present tense of a verb. The past participle of regular verbs is formed by adding –ed or –d to the present tense.Sometimes a participle and a helping verb combine to form the verb in a sentence. A participle cannot stand alone as the main verb of a sentence.

Participles

I was walking down Maple Street.

helping verb

Participles

In other cases, a participle modifies a noun or a pronoun. A participle may come before or after the word it modifies.

The man walking down the street was a stranger.

The frightened neighbors backed away.

ParticiplesUnderline the participles and draw an arrow to the noun it modifies.

Steve Brand, polishing his car, was in front of his house.

The ringing bell of the ice-cream vendor echoed in the distance.

A screeching roar sounded overhead.

The startled neighbors stared at the sky.

Frightened, Tommy told them about aliens.

Participles

People stood in small groups, conversing in low tones.

Steve suggested that it was only a falling meteor.

They all stood there listening to Tommy.

Suddenly the car started, its frame shaking gently.

Participles

Two figures on a concealed spaceship watched from a distance.