My English Essay!
Hi Everyone! This week, I wanted to share with you the essay I got to write over the past week! I thought it was interesting, and it features an episode of the Twilight Zone called The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, so it's definitely worth a skim! tell me your thoughts in the comments!
The Perils of Fear
Written by TheBookWorm
When the characters in The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, written by Rod Serling, fear that aliens are among them, their judgement diminishes and they are only left with instinct. When the power goes out after a large booming sound in the distance, Maple Street turns into a war zone. Accusations fly as tension rises when the idea of aliens comes about. It wreaks havoc on a small suburban street. The absurd events that take place on Maple Street prove a clear point that fear is dangerous and can overpower reasoning. This is revealed when when a man’s car suddenly turns on and the whole street turns against him. This happens again when a dark figure is seen walking down Maple Street, and the other residents harm him out of pure instinct. Finally, this is shown as a mob begins to threaten members of Maple Street.
In Rod Serling's The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, a car suddenly turns on, and the residents immediately accuse it’s owner, Les Goodman, of being an alien. Tension elevates even more when the neighbors continue the insane accusations. When the car “idles roughly, smoke coming from the exhaust” (673), the residents call Les an “‘oddball’” (673) and a “‘[monster] from outer space’” (675). Because of the starting car, fear rises in the residents and their imaginations go wild. This is the reason for the absurd and imaginative accusations that go beyond reasoning. Evidently, this one inexplicable action on Maple Street sets off a dangerous mob.
When a dark figure is seen by Charlie, a resident, walking down the street in The Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling, he takes drastic measures and fires a shot at it. Everyone on the street rushes over to the unknown somebody, and gasp as they see that it is their fellow neighbor, Pete Van Horn, as he was coming back from another street to try to find help. When they first catch sight of the mysterious creature, a boy, Tommy, yells, “‘It’s a monster! It’s a monster!’” (678) before thinking about their missing neighbor or any other less illogical solutions. Another result of the fear would be when another resident, Don, tells his neighbors that they “‘might need [a shotgun]’” (678). Although other residents think that this is unnecessary, Charlie thinks that hashing it out isn’t getting them anywhere. He says that yet another neighbor, Steve, is going to “‘talk [them] into a grave’” (678) and pulls the trigger on the dark figure. This action ended someone’s life, and for an unnecessary reason. Because of the lack of information, the fear took over all of the residents, and forced one of them to make a huge mistake.
After the tragic death of Pete Van Horn, Charlie and Tommy are accused of being the monsters on Maple Street in Rod Serling’s The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. The suburbanites believe that Charlie is the alien because his lights turn on. Then, the residents claim Pete had gained information about the otherworldly events, and because of Charlie being an alien, he killed him to keep his real identity a secret. But Charlie claims the monster is Tommy because of his previous, accurate explanation of this situation. Because of Charlie’s deadly shot, everyone is on edge, so when his lights flicker on, Goodman tells him that he was “‘so quick to kill… and [he] was so quick to tell [them] who they had to be careful of’” (680), implying that he was the monster all along. Then, when a mob chases him down the street, he claims that the monster is “‘the kid! It’s Tommy!’” (681). This creates an even larger mob that later triggers everyone’s lights to flicker, and everyone to reach for their weapons. As a result of the quick kill and the fear of the outcome, the inhabitants of Maple Street are quick to point fingers. The tension that spawned from a horrible accident created something that was more of a monster than the monsters themselves.
As a result of fear, danger and lack of reasoning can, and will, come about. An inexplicable turning on of a car can turn into a mob, a shadowy neighbor can turn into a dead neighbor, and a killer can turn into a prosecutor. Anything can happen when fear joins the game. Although none of the accusing and fearful occupants of Maple Street are monsters, fear turns them all into one. They are more dangerous and illogical than the type of monster who lives under one’s bed, and that is because their actions were unintentional. They transform into monstrosities, but don’t know it, so continue their harmful actions as a result of fear. This creates an environment full of madness, insanity, and sometimes even major loss, as was experienced in this story. And this proves that because of fear, the residents were the real Monsters Due on Maple Street.
Thank you all for reading this week, and I hope to see you next Wednesday!
-TheBookWorm
