The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Creative Writing: Maple Street, USA—What Went Wrong?”

In this activity, students will assume the perspective of a reporter and write a news account describing the aftermath of the disaster on Maple Street.

The neighborhood on Maple Street devolves into violence and chaos over the course of just a few hours. Except for Pete Van Horn, all the characters are cut off from any ability to communicate with the outside world, and Pete is murdered before he can report back to the others.

Imagine you are a reporter who has been tasked with reporting to the rest of the world what you think happened on Maple Street based on the information available.

• Adopt the perspective of an investigative reporter who shows up on Maple Street about 24 hours after the original disturbance, which the script tells us took place at 6:43 pm.
• Piece together the story from your observations of the scene and your interviews with the survivors—if you find any survivors.
• Investigate the conditions of Maple Street. Where did the destruction seem to begin? What was the nature of the conflict?
• Create a reportage story in line with your persona about the shocking events in this neighborhood.
• Include a succinct and effective headline to catch your readers’ attention.
• Follow up the reportage of facts with your outside analysis of the situation. Who was to blame for the destruction? What alternate actions could the residents of Maple Street have taken to avoid this calamity? What warning would you give to other neighborhoods around the country?

Afterward, the class can set up a news desk that is about to go live with a broadcast news segment about the disaster. “Anchors” can take turns reporting the facts, and one student might stream the broadcast on a social media platform.

Teaching Suggestion: Students unfamiliar with the idea of writing a news report may want to rely on this outline from Southern Connecticut State University. Advise students that writing a quality newspaper article requires them to present the facts in a way that is both precise and brief. They should structure their work so that the first paragraph is short and snappy and provides enough information that a reader who does not read any further could walk away with a general understanding of the whole story. They should be sure to answer the five questions—Who? What? When? Where? Why?—and include the most interesting and important information at the top of their article.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who acquire knowledge best from watching or those interested in learning more about creating a broadcast news segment can extend the activity with this analytical activity from PBS’s Student Reporting Labs.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. As the title indicates, the setting of the Maple Street neighborhood plays a significant role in shaping the tone of the narrative.

• How does the teleplay’s setting contribute to the narrative’s tragic tone? (topic sentence)
• Choose two or three details about Maple Street and its community that show the drastic change that the neighborhood undergoes over the short course of the narrative.
• How do these details and the overall tone of the narrative develop the theme of Liberty Versus Security?

2. Charlie is the teleplay’s antagonist whose actions lead to the destruction of the neighborhood; nevertheless, he presents a valid argument for his behavior.

• What defense does Charlie articulate for his antisocial actions? (topic sentence)
• Choose two or three claims that Charlie makes to justify his behavior and evaluate how convincing you find them.
• How does Charlie’s defense fit into the theme of either Liberty Versus Security or Fear of the Unknown?

3. This story is an allegory, in which characters and events have symbolic meanings that convey a moral or political message.

• What central moral or political message is communicated through allegory in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”? (topic sentence)
• Choose at least three characters—for example, Charlie, Steve, and the two Figures—and discuss their allegorical significance. Include textual evidence from the script to support your claims.
• How does this allegorical structure comment on one of the major themes of the text?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. In the closing monologue, the narrator states, “The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout.” The term fallout was first used in 1945 to describe the aftereffects of an atomic blast. How does Serling’s use of this word inform the allegorical nature of this teleplay and deepen its connection to one of the three major themes? Provide textual evidence to support your thesis.

2. After viewing the episode, explain how the director, actors, set designers, and props department adapted the teleplay for the screen. Choose three decisions made by the creators of the television episode and discuss whether you feel their choices helped express the meaning of the narrative. 

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following plot elements in the teleplay are characteristic of the science fiction genre?

A) A meteor flies over a suburban neighborhood.

B) Neighbors turn against one another in the face of a stressful situation.

C) Visitors from another planet discuss the demise of humanity.

D) Radio broadcasts suddenly cease.

2. Which of the following best states a major theme of the teleplay?

A) Communism threatens the moral fabric of American society.

B) Prejudices are as dangerous and destructive as weapons.

C) Societal harmony is impossible during times of crisis.

D) Breakdowns in infrastructure inevitably lead to panic.

3. Where do several characters suggest that Tommy heard his story about the spaceship that flew overhead?

A) His nightmares

B) Comic books

C) Television broadcasts

D) School assignments

4. Which of the following quotations best demonstrates the text’s motif of the fragility of American prosperity?

A) “A gag? A gag? Charlie, there’s a dead man on the sidewalk and you killed him! Does this thing look like a gag to you?”

B) “So I’ve got a car that starts by itself—well, that’s a freak thing, I admit it. But does that make me some kind of a criminal or something?”

C) “You sound real anxious to have that happen, Steve. I think we better keep our eye on you too!”

D) “Throw them into darkness for a few hours, and then you just sit back and watch the pattern.”

5. Which character says, “Wait a minute! Let’s not be a mob!”?

A) Les

B) Charlie

C) Steve

D) Don

6. Which statement best summarizes the conflicting points of view between Charlie and Les?

A) Les feels that his car starting by itself is not unusual, but Charlie is skeptical.

B) Les feels that being sent back into the “dark ages” should scare Charlie more than it does.

C) Charlie feels that Les’s behavior makes him a suspect for causing the disruption, but Les protests.

D) Charlie wants to know why the car starts on its own, but Les warns the rest of the neighbors not to act like an unthinking crowd.

7. Which plot scenario represents Don’s attempt to calm the situation on Maple Street?

A) He tells the crowd about the effects of sunspots on radio reception.

B) He suggests the crowd go to Les’s house to find out more.

C) He tells others of Les’s response to the strange event.

D) He asks that Les explain why his car starts.

8. Why does the author include an allusion to the biblical figure Cain in the first act?

A) To characterize Don as an educated person

B) To create a red herring that distracts from the monsters

C) To show the religious source of the panic

D) To foreshadow the murder of a brotherly figure

9. How do the neighbors interpret the sudden return of power to Charlie’s house?

A) As a sign that he is the most dangerous outsider

B) As a hint that he might have murdered his neighbor

C) As a dismissal of suspicions about him and his family

D) As an indication that the crisis on Maple Street is over)

10. Why do the neighbors become suspicious of Tommy?

A) Tommy throws a rock that injures Charlie.

B) Charlie points out that Tommy predicted the neighborhood’s dilemma.

C) Tommy’s mother discredits his account of the invading “spacemen.”

D) Of all the neighbors, only Tommy’s car will start.

11. Read this excerpt from Act 1.

Narrator’s Voice. Maple Street. Six-forty-four p.m. on a late September evening. [A pause] Maple Street in the last calm and reflective moment…before the monsters came!

How does this contribute to the meaning of the teleplay?

A) It introduces the main characters of the story.

B) It establishes the story’s motif of calm reflection.

C) It foreshadows the violent struggle to come.

D) It flashes back to Maple Street’s mysterious history.

12. Why is Charlie so successful at controlling the behavior of the group in the beginning?

A) He speaks assertively and tells other people what to do.

B) He understands the nature of the emergency better than the others.

C) He exhibits levelheaded leadership skills that others respect.

D) He was placed on Maple Street ahead of time by the two Figures.

13. Read this dialogue from Act 2:

Steve. …Let’s pick out every idiosyncrasy of every single man, woman, and child on the street. And then we might as well set up some kind of kangaroo court. How about a firing squad at dawn, Charlie, so we can get rid of all the suspects?

Which of the following best describes the tone of the dialogue?

A) Cooperative—he is offering helpful suggestions.

B) Groveling—he is trying to curry favor from Charlie.

C) Cunning—he is trying to trick Charlie.

D) Ironic—he means the opposite of what he says.

14. How does Sally, Tommy’s mother, react to Charlie’s accusation of her son?

A) With terror

B) With calm

C) With violence

D) With counteraccusations

15. Which of the following best describes how the female characters are portrayed in this teleplay?

A) Silent

B) Gossipy

C) Optimistic

D) Cryptic

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Who are the monsters that are due on Maple Street? Explain your reasoning.

2. How does the author use foreshadowing to heighten suspense and create irony in the teleplay?