46 pages • 1 hour read
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
ACT 1
Reading Check
1. Which details about Maple Street does the narrator describe at the beginning of Act 1?
2. What do the residents of Maple Street originally believe must have flown over their neighborhood?
3. Who travels to Floral Street to check on the situation there?
4. What does Tommy hypothesize about the object that flew overhead?
5. Why does Charlie suggest that Steve go downtown?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Based on the narrator’s introduction, what kind of place is Maple Street?
2. What alerts the neighbors that this sudden event is more than a mere power outage?
3. What effect does Tommy’s speech have on the neighbors?
4. What about Les Goodman’s behavior makes his neighbors suspicious of him?
5. Which character or characters try to keep the situation on Maple Street calm? How effective are they?
Paired Resources
“We Do Not Have to Be Passive Bystanders”
- This helpful article from Psychology Today explains what happens when crowds become mobs and offers steps to help people make better decisions in emergencies.
- This source connects to the themes Mob Psychology & Mass Hysteria and Fear of the Unknown.
- Based on these guidelines, what specific decisions did the residents of Maple Street make that might have made the situation worse? Offer some alternative decisions that could have improved the situation. Did any of the characters follow any of the steps in the SQUID method? If so, where did things go wrong?
- This 9-minute public service announcement from the Federal Civil Defense Administration (1950-1958) seeks to communicate the urgent threat that Soviet atomic power presented to members of the US population. It contextualizes the pervading fear and anxiety about the communist Soviet Union in the years leading up to and including the run of The Twilight Zone. (For a shorter viewing, consider stopping the video at 2:37.)
- This video connects to the theme Fear of the Unknown.
- What was your emotional response to this message? Do the characters in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” show signs of being affected by messages like these in their culture?
ACT 2
Reading Check
1. How has the setting changed at the beginning of Act 2?
2. Which character claims to have insomnia?
3. Which of Steve’s hobbies draws suspicion from Don and others?
4. How does Pete Van Horn die?
5. What two new characters are introduced at the end of the play?
6. What mode of transportation did the new characters take to arrive at Maple Street?
7. What caused the unusual power outages on Maple Street?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Which two events make the crowd turn against Charlie?
2. How does Charlie respond to the accusations that he is the monster?
3. How does Steve attempt to keep the situation calm, and how successful is he?
4. What is the nature of the disagreement that Steve and his wife, Myra, have about Steve’s radio set?
5. How does the introduction of two new characters at the end of the play change the viewer’s understanding of the plot?
6. What do the two Figures hope to accomplish by visiting this world?
7. In retrospect, which resident of Maple Street had the most accurate understanding of the emergency? Explain.
Paired Resources
- This source is an aid for debaters in understanding the tension between freedom and security. It offers several debate scenarios and articulates the opposing viewpoints.
- This resource connects to the theme Liberty Versus Security.
- Why is the balance between liberty and security on Maple Street so easy to upset? What is it about the emergency that causes such a rapid deterioration?
“Is Media Platform Nextdoor a Neighbor in Need or a Vigilante Nightmare?”
- This article from the Guardian shows the effect of the Nextdoor app on how neighbors treat one another in the author’s London community and explains Nextdoor’s inability to stop the spread of racial profiling on its platform.
- This resource connects to the themes of Liberty Versus Security and Mob Psychology & Mass Hysteria.
- In “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” prejudices and hatred grow in part because the neighbors are cut off from communication with others, yet platforms such as Nextdoor that increase communication can also foster discrimination. How can people be more discerning when it comes to listening to neighborhood gossip and other people’s biased opinions? What responsibility should social media companies take in creating a safer atmosphere?
Recommended Next Reads
“All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury
- This short story combines the elements of science fiction with the hurtful actions of a crowd of jealous people—this time, a classroom of nine-year-olds.
- Shared themes include Mob Psychology and Fear of the Unknown.
- Shared topics include science fiction elements and a strong moral message.
- “All Summer in a Day” on SuperSummary
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
- This short story looks underneath the veneer of civilized American life to examine some horrifying aspects of human nature.
- Shared themes include Mob Psychology and Fear of the Unknown.
- Shared topics include gripping suspense and mob violence.
- “The Lottery” on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
ACT 1
Reading Check
1. It is a “tree-lined” place where people sit on “front porch gliders,” children play hopscotch, and a vendor sells ice cream. (Act 1)
2. A meteor (Act 1)
3. Pete Van Horn (Act 1)
4. He thinks it is a ship from outer space. (Act 1)
5. To report the problem to the police (Act 1)
Short Answer
1. Maple Street seems to be calm, quaint, pleasant, and a friendly place to raise a family. (Act 1)
2. Devices not connected to the electrical grid, such as automobiles and portable radios, also stop working. (Act 1)
3. It causes anxiety and builds suspicion that one of the neighbors is an enemy in disguise. (Act 1)
4. Les is known to stand in his yard and look into the sky late at night, suggesting that he could be on the lookout for a spaceship. (Act 1)
5. Steve provides the voice of reason for the neighborhood, asking his peers to moderate their behavior and consider other, more logical conclusions. At first, Don aids Steve in this effort, but eventually he becomes an antagonist. (Act 1)
ACT 2
Reading Check
1. It is nighttime as Act 2 opens. (Act 2)
2. Les Goodman (Act 2)
3. His ham radio hobby (Act 2)
4. Charlie shoots him with a shotgun. (Act 2)
5. Figure One and Figure Two, presumably aliens from another planet (Act 2)
6. A spaceship (Act 2)
7. The two Figures were manipulating the machines on Maple Street all along. (Act 2)
Short Answer
1. The crowd first turns on Charlie after he shoots and kills Pete Van Horn. As he is pleading innocence, the lights in his house turn on without explanation. (Act 2)
2. First, he suggests that someone is pulling a “gag” on him; then, he points the blame toward Tommy. (Act 2)
3. Answers may vary. Steve asks questions, encourages rational thought, searches for alternative explanations for unexplained phenomena, and encourages his neighbors not to be a mob. He is successful at slowing the progress of the hysteria momentarily but is ultimately unable to stop the destruction. (Act 2)
4. Myra is willing to let the neighbors see Steve’s ham radio set to prove that his hobby is harmless. Steve rejects the idea that he needs to prove his innocence and suggests that the neighbors can get a search warrant if they want to inspect his home. (Act 2)
5. By introducing these two characters, Serling allows viewers to realize that Tommy’s far-fetched story about alien invasion was in fact true. Ironically, it is the neighbors’ inability to stay calm and trust one another in the face of an external threat that causes the destruction on Maple Street. (Both acts)
6. They want to cause humans to destroy one another while they remain removed from the conflict. (Act 2)
7. Tommy guessed that aliens were responsible for the power outage and that these aliens intended to harm the people of Earth. However, Steve understood that the greater threat was the breakdown of trust between the neighbors and their transformation into a hysterical mob. Because they were unable to work together, they were powerless to confront the external threat. (Both acts)
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