The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street Essay

Words: 503
Pages: 3

Fear of the Unknown Imagine everyone in your neighborhood turning on each other only to find a new scapegoat each time. Doesn’t sound stomach sitting does it? Well, that is exactly what was happening in the teleplay written by Rod Serling in1960, “The Monsters are Due On Maple Street” and the 2003 version “The Monsters are On Maple Street” In both of these teleplays you can learn that fear of the unknown can cause people to turn on each other. In the beginning of the 1960 version, all the neighbors on Maple Street, were completely frightened when there was a lighting like flash coming from the sky. To make matters worse, a 14 year old boy had made an assumption that the cause of the power outages were caused by aliens. The statement from the 14 year old boy, Tommy, “they don’t want you to,” had made finger pointing a whole new game for the neighbors. First, when Les Goodman’s car, out of the blue, suddenly started, he quickly became the scape goat. As the night crept on, fear became more and more common. When the people of Maple Street suddenly saw a tall, dark figure, Charlie quickly grabbed his shotgun, and shot at the innocent Pete Van Horn. Charlie quickly became the new scapegoat, proving that fear will lead people to do …show more content…
In the 1960 version, Charlie had gone back to his house and grabbed his gun, in spite of fear. He quickly came back outside, and shot the shot gun at innocent Pete Van Horn, making Charlie the new scapegoat. As time went on, Charlie seemed to become more and more panicked. Due to his fear, he blamed the strange acts on the 14 year old boy, Tommy. Furthermore, in the 2003 version, Charlie had pulled his gun on Will. This seemed to create more chaos, and caused the neighbors to attack the newbies house. In conclusion, this proves that fear will of the unknown will cause people to do surprising