Characters
Tone, Mood, and Meaning
Vocabulary
Plot
Theme & Conflict
100

Who kills Pete Van Horn? 

Charlie

100

What is the mood at the beginning of the teleplay? 

Calm, serene, happy

100

What is insomnia? 

The inability to fall asleep

100

Describe the setting of the teleplay.

A suburban American street; typical town

100

What is a conflict? 

A problem in a story; a struggle between opposing forces
200

What role does Tommy play in TMDM?

He starts the accusations by mentioning the plot of his alien comic books

200

What causes the mood to change? 

The flash of light from a meteor

200

What is a scapegoat? 

A person or group who is made to take the blame for the actions of others

200

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

200

What is a theme? 

The universal message of a text, the "big idea"

300

How does Steve try to keep the residents calm? 

By using sarcasm; joking

300

What tone do most of the characters take when the accusations start flying?

panicked, angry, accusatory, confused

300

When I walked into the cafeteria, I got flustered because my crush was sitting at my table. 

What does "flustered" mean?

Confused, agitated, nervous

300

What does Steve accuse Tommy of?

Tommy reads too many comic books

300

What is an example of an internal conflict in the teleplay? 

Charlie feeling guilty about shooting Pete Van Horn

400

What role does the Woman play in TMDM?

the Woman says things that encourage suspicion and fear among the neighbors

400

Who causes the panic and mayhem on Maple Street?  

The aliens; Figure 1 and Figure 2

400

"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

400

At what point does the crowd turn into a violent mob? 

After Charlie becomes a scapegoat and accuses Tommy - everybody goes wild after that

400

What is the main conflict in TMDM?

Answers will vary - must justify your response

character v. society

character v. character

500

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

500

Who are the real monsters on Maple Street?

The residents themselves

500

Create a sentence using one of the following words: 

assent | idles | menace

Answers will vary

500

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

500

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.