The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

In many ways, the Maple Street of the television episode is the idealized American suburb from 1960. In what ways does the episode present Maple Street as a model of neighborly social stability, and what larger comment does the author make by showing its sudden breakdown into chaos?

• How do the neighbors behave toward one another at the beginning of the episode?
• What details does the narrator stress about typical life on Maple Street before the unexplained event, and what do these details tell us about the values of the people who live there?
• How do you imagine the demographic makeup of Maple Street? Who seems to be excluded, and is this significant?
• Is the violent reaction to the events on Maple Street a uniquely American one, or could it apply to all people?

Teaching Suggestion: This discussion allows students to understand the values established by the residents of Maple Street: security, homogeneity, and innocence. In the United States, the growth of the single-family suburban home, removed from the constraints of crowded urban life, signified American prosperity and the triumph of free-market capitalism, a direct contrast to the collectivism of the communist Soviet Union. These homes were private and protected, and the neighborhoods were often explicitly segregated to exclude non-white residents.