The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

For those of you who could not be in class on Wednesday, we watched the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."  In order to respond to the blog post, you will need watch the episode.  To do this, you can access the episode in three parts on youtube.  The links have been provided below.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Rod Serling closes with the following quote.  For your blog post, consider:

What do you think Serling is saying?  Based on what we have studied so far do you agree with this statement?  Be sure to support your answer with evidence from literature, history, personal experience, etc.  Your answer should be a full paragraph (6-8 sentences).

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children, and the children yet unborn.”

Good Night and Good Luck

The following quote comes from Murrow’s speech given to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, at the beginning and the end of the film.  Read his address carefully and offer a short summary of what you believe he is saying.  

Do you agree or disagree with his sentiments?  Based on this speech, what do you believe Murrow would say about television today?   Would he be pleased or dismayed? 

Compare the transition from radio to TV in Murrow's time, to the advent of the internet in our own. Has it improved the flow of information and education, or is it too merely "a box of wires and lights?"

Support your answers.  This response should address all three points clearly and sufficiently for full credit.

“Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East. Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged? Would the stockholders rise up in their wrath and complain? Would anything happen other than that a few million people would have received a little illumination on subjects that may well determine the future of this country, and therefore the future of the corporations? To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.”

PowerPoint Presentations

Now that we have read the first two acts of The Crucible, you should have a sense for some of the key factors shaping the conflict in Salem in 1692.  

For the next two weeks, you will be looking at the historical context during which Arthur Miller wrote the play.  As we have briefly discussed in class, he wrote the play as an allegory, to serve as social commentary for the times.

As you begin to learn what was happening in this country in the 1950's, you should keep the following questions in mind.  These questions will shape our class discussions in the future, and they should also serve to guide your journal reflections.

• What similarities do you find between The Salem Witch Trials and The Red Scare?
• How might you have reacted as a member of society in that time?
• How did each of these situations get so out of control?
• Could this happen again?  Has it?

Follow The McCarthy Era link and locate your group topic in the bottom right corner.  Here you will find questions to guide you in composing your PowerPoint presentations and the rubric that I will be using to grade your final projects.  

Keep in mind that this week is short and you will have no other assignments this week.  You WILL have two journals and a blog due next week, so do not procrastinate on this assignment.  Get the majority of the work done this week, and use next week to fine tune it.  As always, e-mail me with any questions.