The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street by Rod Serling Cause & Effect

Act I

1. P. 506 CAUSE Sound of a roar and a flash of light. EFFECT People stop what they’re doing to stare up at the sky.

2. What do the people think the flash could be? Meteor

3. P. 507-509 CAUSE Aliens EFFECT Phone lines, electricity, and machines don’t work.

4. Who is the “them” Tommy refers to? What makes you think so? The monsters because Tommy looks off to the horizon.

5. Pg. 511 CAUSE Tommy tells a science-fiction story. EFFECT Crowd grows nervous and tense.

6. Pg. 513 CAUSE Les Goodman’s car starts by itself. EFFECT Group becomes wild and fearful…suspects Les Goodman of wrongdoing.

7. Pg. 516 CAUSE Woman talks about Les Goodman looking at the sky late at night. EFFECT Les Goodman gets very angry.

8. How would you feel at this point if you were Goodman? He probably feels betrayed and frightened because all the people he’s known as neighbors for five years are lining up against him.

End of Act I 3-2-1 3 Things that have happened in Act I 2 Interesting things 1 Question you still have

Act II

1. Pg. 518 CAUSE Don and Charlie accuse Steve of being odd. EFFECT Steve gets angry and defiant.

2. Pg. 519 CAUSE A dark figure walks slowly toward the group. EFFECT Charlie shoots the figure with a shotgun.

3. Who do you think the dark figure could be? A monster or anyone from the neighborhood.

4. Pg. 521 CAUSE The lights come on at Charlie’s house. EFFECT The crowd turns on Charlie.

5. Why doesn’t Les Goodman feel compassion for Charlie now that the crowd has turned against him? Probably because Charlie was encouraging the crowd to suspect Les of being a monster and did not support his own best friend, Steve.

6. Pg. 523 CAUSE Charlie accuses Tommy of being the monster. EFFECT Sally protects her son, Tommy.

7. Pg. 523 CAUSE Lights go on and off in houses on the street. EFFECT There is chaos and confusion; the crowd is shouting and accusing.

8. Who are the figures? Where are they from? What are they doing? The figures are creatures from outer space. They are trying to destroy humans by tricking them into destroying each other.

End of Act II 3-2-1 Things that have happened in Act II Interesting things Question you still have