Rod Serling's The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

Problems with Fear Fear is definitely something that can mess with your brain. Whether you’re afraid of spiders, clowns or paranormal activity, you have a fear of something. At any point you could be looking at danger, and thinking you are in trouble but really, it’s nothing. This is something that happened in Rod Serling’s 1960 teleplay, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” In the teleplay, the neighbors on Maple Street lost power due to a shiny light in the sky. At different times, some houses get power, causing the neighbors to point fingers at different people based on a story that Tommy, a kid, has told about aliens. The same teleplay was played in 2003, “The Monsters are on Maple Street.” The same story was played but the neighbors thought the “monsters” were terrorist the terrorist lived on Maple Street. These teleplays give the idea that fear of the unknown can cause people to turn on each other.

Continuing
with fear, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” has something to do with scapegoats. In the teleplay, there is a flashing light that glowed the sky. The neighbors checked on each other, all but one person didn’t check. Everyone lost power. Two people wanted to go downtown, but a thirteen year old kid named Tommy had a theory that aliens were attacking. The people on Maple Street bought the story and try to find out who the aliens on the street were. There was one person who did not come out and check on the other neighbors. The neighbors first thought it was him, Les Goodman, who was an alien. This gives one example of the finger pointing because Steve, the main character, was blaming Les Goodman for shutting the power off for one reason: his car started all by itself when the other cars wouldn’t turn on. Then, a guy started to come down Maple Street with what looked like a gun near him. Charlie, the guy who wanted to go downtown, grabbed a gun and shot him. Turns out, the guy was a fellow neighbor that checked the next street if they had power. Now the neighbors are blaming Charlie for shooting an innocent and thinking that he is the “monster.” People in the neighborhood are starting to be a mob towards each other. Then Charlie begins to blame Tommy because Tommy knew what was happening. At that moment the whole neighborhood started to blame one another and are in a mob. In the text, Steve have said “Let’s not be a mob!” Yet the fear in the neighbors’ have got the best of them and already been in a mob in the end.

Furthermore, the same story is played in 2003, “The Monsters are on Maple Street.” The neighborhood has lost power.
One of the neighbors did not check on the rest, so the people on Maple Street suspect that they are the terrorist and the street is under attack. It becomes night and the main character, Will, went over the “terrorist’s” house and talked about the situation. Will comes back to the people outside and states, “Everything is fine.” He stays calm and says the neighbors could come outside. Will didn’t let them come out so Dylan, a guy suspicious with the “terrorists” held out a gun to Will’s face and finger pointed at Will for ‘protecting the terrorists’. Will pointed at Dylan for having the gun out. Nobody got shot. The neighbors looked around and found cameras near the houses. They all, once again, suspected the neighbors in the house with power because they worked as electricians. The whole neighborhood mobbed and destroyed the house. Fear has gotten them into where chaos has begun, and finger pointing has gotten the best of
them.

In conclusion, fear of the unknown can make people finger point at each other and cause destruction. As we can tell by both plays, people want to blame someone for something scary. Finger pointing causes massive destruction if people aren’t careful of their actions. In my opinion, I think the teleplay tells a message that physical actions and emotions, including fear, does cause minor or major chaos. And who were the real monsters on Maple Street? Themselves, of course, because of the fear that lead them to destruction.