The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street Theme: Fear and suspicion are destructive.
"Look, I don't know why it started, it just did."
"How come your car was the only one that started, huh Les"
One major theme of "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" by Rod Serling is fear and suspicion are destructive. One example is when Les Goodman's car had started up by itself when nothing else would work. This caused the towns people to turn on him and it shows how their suspicion of Les had destroyed their trust and loyalty as neighbors and friends. Their fear overtook their sense of thinking correctly and made them angry at someone they've known for years (Pg.76-77). Another example is when Charlie shoots Pete Van Horn. This shows that the fear of the monsters being real caused Charlie to shoot the dark figure that was approaching. He didn't even bother to stop and ask who the dark figure was, since his fear clouded his mind. Pete Van Horn's life was destroyed by Charlie because everyone's fear was too great (Pg.82-84). One other example is towards the end when the aliens made the house lights and cars go on and off. In this moment, the townspeople of Maple Street went berserk. They started to destroy everything in the town, throwing rocks at windows and smashing cars. Their fear went out of control and their suspicion of everyone had led to this. It would get to the point where they start picking each other off, one by one (Pg.85-86). In conclusion, the theme of fear and suspicion is best suited for "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" by Rod Serling. Fear and suspicion had led to Maple Street and it's residents to their demise and destruction.
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I...I didn't mean to shoot him, I swear. I didn't know who he was!