Name: ________________________________ Date: ________________ Period: _______ #-_______
“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”
Understanding Historical Context
Directions: BEFORE READING ROD SERLING’S “THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON MAPLE STREET” ON PAGES 666-684 IN THE
LITERATURE BOOK, COMPLETE THE PACKET TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE SELECTION.
BEFORE READIN G
• SET A PURPOSE
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1. What is the purpose of reading the information contained in this packet?
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2. What should you expect to be able to do after reading the material in this packet?
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PREVIEW THE READING
In the space to the right,
list anything in this prereading packet that might
give you a sense of what
you can expect to learn.
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PLAN A READING STRATEGY
While you complete this pre-reading packet, you will:
● Define key terms
● Complete a graphic
organizer
● Make inferences
Relate personal
experiences
Compare informational text
to a cartoon
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Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
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DURIN G THE RE ADIN G
● Read with a purpose and look for information to fit your purpose.
Directions: Define the following three bolded vocabulary words found in the encyclopedia article titled “Communism.”
Then, identify two words you found challenging. Write the words on the blank and define all words using a dictionary.
communism_________________________________________________________________________
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alliance___________________________________________________________________________
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sympathizers_______________________________________________________________________
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Communism
The Cold War
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union competed with
each other for international influence and allies in the Cold War. Both
countries attempted to gain international power by influencing other
governments in their favor, often with military or economic aid.
The Cold War was characterized by mutual distrust, suspicion, and
misunderstandings between the two sides. These conditions led to
occasional confrontations. For example, both the United States and the
Soviet Union supplied military aid to opposing forces in the Korean War.
Another confrontation came in 1962, when the United States learned that
the Soviet Union had secretly installed missile stations in Cuba that
could launch nuclear attacks on U.S. cities. After a week of extreme
international tension, the Soviet Union agreed to United States demands
and removed the missiles.
Alarmed by Communist expansion in Eastern Europe and in China, the
United States and its allies began giving military and economic aid to
non-Communist countries. They also pledged to help nations threatened by
Communist take-overs. In 1949, Western nations formed the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO). This alliance provided its members with
mutual defense against a possible attack by the Soviet Union or any
other aggressor. In 1955, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European
allies signed the Warsaw Pact, a treaty to provide for their common
Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
defense. The signers claimed they drew up the pact in response to the
creation of NATO. Each side invested in a massive arms race, a
competition to acquire nuclear weapons and other arms.
In the 1950's, fear of Communism in the United States led to widespread
accusations and investigations of suspected Communist activities. This
pursuit of Communists came to be called McCarthyism, after Senator
Joseph R. McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican. McCarthy charged that many
individuals were Communists or Communist sympathizers, usually with
little evidence to support his charges. Nevertheless, many people lost
their jobs or suffered in other ways after being labeled a Communist.
Vontz, Thomas S. "Communism." World Book Student. World Book, 2012. Web.
6 Dec. 2012.
Directions: Use the encyclopedia entry to complete the graphic organizer. This should help you organize the most important
details of the encyclopedia article “Communism.”
CAUSES OF THE COLD
WAR:
COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN
THE COLD WAR:
COMMUNISM
NATO’S GOALS:
from World Book
Encyclopedia
EFFECTS OF MCARTHYISM:
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
COLD WAR:
Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
CREATE PERSO NAL CONNECTIONS
Directions: Consider a situation where you (or someone you know) have encountered a situation in which a rumor has
had a negative impact. Explain your experience.
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MAKE INFERENCES
Directions: Use Herbert Block’s cartoon and the information
from the World Book article titled “Communism” to answer the
following questions.
1. List two important objects in the cartoon and describe
what each represents.
Object
Symbolizes
2. What issue or event does the cartoon portray?
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3. What is the purpose of the text in the cartoon?
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4. What message is Block communicating through the cartoon?
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5. What groups would have agreed with the cartoon’s message? Why?
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Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
Directions: As you read the essay, “America’s First Teenagers: Youth in the fifties,” by Barbara Diggs, complete
the t-chart. Identify details from the article that characterized life for teens in the 1950’s in the column labeled
“1950’s.” Then, use your personal experiences and knowledge to list details about teenagers today in the column
titled “Today.” Be sure to list a minimum of five (5) details in each column.
Today
1950’s
An Excerpt from “America’s First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties”
Barbara Diggs
The term “teenager” was scarcely heard at the start of the 1950’s, but by the
decade’s end, the word rolled off every American tongue with ease. The teens of the
‘50’s were the first teen-aged youths to stand out as a distinct group with interests,
fashions, musical tastes and economic power of their own. Their rise to prominence
was largely because, unlike the youth of previous generations, the youngsters of the
1950s were unencumbered by responsibilities brought by world war and economic
depression. In the 1950s, America was as prosperous as it ever had been; the morale of
the white middle-class was high, and parents, smilingly indulgent. For the first time,
young people had both the money and the freedom to do what every generation of teens
since has expected as its right: have fun.
And fun, they had.
Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
The average white middle-class teen in the 1950’s often engaged in the type of
wholesome activities for which they are so well remembered. They hung out with their
friends at malt shops, “necked” at drive-in movies, and gathered around the television
with their families – only one set per household in those days – to watch respectable
programs such as “I Love Lucy” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Teenage boys – from
slick-haired “greasers” to cardigan-wearing preppies – spent ample time salivating
over the increasingly sleek and sporty cars that were being churned out each year.
Girls swooned over pin-ups of teen idols like Troy Donahue and Fabian, and
consulted newly inaugurated teen magazines for advice on dating or fashion.
Perhaps if the teens of the ‘50s had gone no further with their exploration of
fun, perhaps the world would be a different place. But America’s first teenagers
clearly wanted more than wholesome fun. And when rock ‘n rollers such as Chuck
Berry, Little Richard and Elvis Presley burst onto the scene, teens were ready. They
latched onto rock ‘n roll’s reckless, thrilling beat and refused to let go. With the
advent of rock ‘n roll, and a spate of movies featuring disaffected teens (most notably
being James Dean in “Rebel Without A Cause”), America got its first taste of teenage
rebellion.
Most parents were appalled. Rock ‘n roll, with its powerful beat, gyrating
singers, and suggestive lyrics, was considered to be utterly unsuitable for children.
The fact that such music also had strong roots in the African-American blues and
gospel traditions made it all the worse. It was denounced by conservatives as “jungle
music” or “Satan’s music” – which made the teenagers, in true teenage form, crave it
all the more. Record producers were happy to oblige them. Teens flocked the record
stores, dropped millions of dimes in the jukebox, and joyfully jitterbugged away in
thousands of high school gyms across the nation. And as the song goes, rock ‘n roll
was here to stay.
Naturally, life in the ‘50s wasn’t one sock hop after another. Teens spent most
of their time in school, and were constantly pressured to conform to society’s
extremely conservative standards. One such method of pressure was the frequent
showing of “mental hygiene” films in schools. These 15-minute films (with titles such
as, “Keep off the Grass”, “Are You Popular?” and “Safety or Slaughter”) attempted to
steer – or frighten – young people away from drugs, [relations with the opposite
gender,] slouching, speeding, or anything that might render them socially unpopular.
The consequences for teens that veered from the norm were severe: an unwed
pregnant teen would quickly find herself a pariah; homosexuality could result in a jail
sentence; an interracial relationship would practically guarantee ostracism from
everyone, including your own family.
But, overall, Happy Days wasn’t outrageously far off the mark. Few teens
stepped far beyond their social boundaries, and life for a white middle-class teen was
good fun.
The average black teen, although painfully aware – and often brutally reminded
– of the pervasive racism in America, had their own happy days. Like their white
counterparts, black teenagers of the ‘50s, laughed with their friends, wore saddle
shoes, penny loafers and swing skirts, listened to 45s, and watched wholesome
sitcoms with their families. They danced at parties, took “home economics” or “shop”
in school, and a small percentage applied and went to college.
Rock and roll was well-liked among black teens, but many teens, especially those in
big cities, often preferred the smooth, harmonious sounds of black “doo-wop” groups
such as the Clovers, the Platters or Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Doo-wop was a
recent permutation of rhythm and blues, a form of music that originated in the black
Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
community and had been long enjoyed by parents and kids alike. However, doo-wop
in particular was a teenage thing, as it began with groups of young inner-city black
males gathering on street corners or on front porches to make up songs and sing a
cappella for their friends.
Although white and black teens shared many similarities in pastimes, fashions
and musical taste, the two situations were not “separate but equal.” The ‘50s are
often characterized as an age of ‘youthful innocence’, but black teenagers were all too
aware of their vulnerability to the ugliness in the world. Fourteen year-old Emmett Till
was brutally murdered and mutilated in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman.
Nine courageous teenagers endured taunts, violent threats and gobs of spit, for daring
to be the first blacks to integrate an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Popular dance programs, such as American Bandstand and the Milt Grant Show,
would not, at least initially, allow black and white teens to dance in the same studio.
Black teenagers could not help but be aware that white America considered them
vastly inferior, and that straying over racial boundaries could have humiliating
and/or devastating consequences. Nevertheless, a flutter of rebellion was growing in
the hearts of many black teens. And in the sixties, this rebellion would converge with
the discontent of white middle-class teens, to explode into a revolution that would
alter the course of America’s history.
Diggs, Barbara. "America's First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties." America's First
Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties. N.p., n.d. Web. Dec. 2012
RESPOND TO THE RE ADIN G
Directions: Answer the following prompt in a complete paragraph. Cite facts, examples, and/or details from the essay,
"America's First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties," and the t-chart in your response.
How was life for teenagers in the 1950s compared to today?
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Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____
Date: _______________
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AFTER READ ING
●
Pause, reflect, and look back to See if you found information to fit your purpose.
Can you explain how the Cold War led to McCarthyism? Are you able to describe life in the 1950s?
If not, you must go back and reread.
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Reread to find things you may have missed the first time.
Have you answered all of the questions? If not, take a second look at the text and skim for key
words and phrases. Review your responses.
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Remember what you have learned.