Characters
Who kills Pete Van Horn?
Charlie
What is the mood at the beginning of the teleplay?
Calm, serene, happy
What is insomnia?
The inability to fall asleep
Describe the setting of the teleplay.
A suburban American street; typical town
What is a conflict?
What role does Tommy play in TMDM?
He starts the accusations by mentioning the plot of his alien comic books
What causes the mood to change?
The flash of light from a meteor
What is a scapegoat?
A person or group who is made to take the blame for the actions of others
How do the residents of Maple Street first react to the power outage?
They are all confused and try to figure out what is going on
What is a theme?
The universal message of a text, the "big idea"
How does Steve try to keep the residents calm?
By using sarcasm; joking
What tone do most of the characters take when the accusations start flying?
panicked, angry, accusatory, confused
When I walked into the cafeteria, I got flustered because my crush was sitting at my table.
What does "flustered" mean?
Confused, agitated, nervous
What does Steve accuse Tommy of?
Tommy reads too many comic books
What is an example of an internal conflict in the teleplay?
Charlie feeling guilty about shooting Pete Van Horn
What role does the Woman play in TMDM?
the Woman says things that encourage suspicion and fear among the neighbors
Who causes the panic and mayhem on Maple Street?
The aliens; Figure 1 and Figure 2
"Ms. Schroeder sluggishly got out of bed in the morning - she was almost late to work!"
What is the opposite meaning of the word "sluggishly"?
quickly, hurriedly, fast, energetically
At what point does the crowd turn into a violent mob?
After Charlie becomes a scapegoat and accuses Tommy - everybody goes wild after that
What is the main conflict in TMDM?
Answers will vary - must justify your response
character v. society
character v. character
What does the author want the audience to understand about Maple Street and its residents?
Why is the story set on a Maple Street?
The events in the story could happen anywhere
Who are the real monsters on Maple Street?
The residents themselves
Create a sentence using one of the following words:
assent | idles | menace
Answers will vary
What do the aliens believe about the behavior of human beings?
They think that it is easy to make humans destroy themselves by making them fight each other
What is a possible theme for TMDM?
Fear causes people to act irrationally
Ordinary people are capable of doing terrible things
The desperate search for a scapegoat can create more problems.