46 pages • 1 hour read
Rod SerlingThe Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Fiction | Play | YA | Published in 1960A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
Teacher Introduction
“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”
- Genre: Drama; science fiction; teleplay
- Originally Aired: March 4, 1960
- Reading Level/Interest: Grades 6-12; college/adult
- Structure/Length: 2 acts; approx. 16 pages; approx. 22 minutes on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: Ordinary citizens of Maple Street, a suburban neighborhood somewhere in the US, experience an unexplained disturbance in the skies followed by a failure of all their electrical and mechanical devices. Thrown into darkness and uncertainty, further unexplained phenomena and petty grievances rachet up the tension, and neighbors must hold their fear in check or resort to mob chaos.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Gun violence; scapegoating
Rod Serling, Author
- Bio: 1924-1975; served bravely in World War II; American playwright, screenwriter, television producer, narrator; known for writing live television dramas on programs such as Kraft’s Television Theatre; created his groundbreaking television series The Twilight Zone in 1952; known as the “angry young man” of television, the political themes of his narratives were often at odds with industry executives
- Other Works: Patterns (1955); Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956); “Time Enough at Last” (1959); “To Serve Man” (1962)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:
- Mob Psychology & Mass Hysteria
- Liberty Versus Security
- Fear of the Unknown
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:
