Scapegoats in Fiction and Reality

Common Core Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.9

There is no scientific evidence that aliens have visited earth, but have events like on Maple Street ever occurred?

At the end of the epilogue, the narrator states:

“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. And the pity of it is... that these things cannot be confined to...the Twilight Zone.”

The makers of the Simpsons also addressed the issue of scapegoats. View this short clip. Who are the scapegoats? Why are they being targeted?

The Simpsons episode is inspired from the true Salem Witch Trials that occurred in what is now the United States in the year 1692. Go to Edpuzzle and view "The Story of the Salem Witch Trials." Answer the questions as you go. 
Now open the document, Scapegoating: Fiction and Reality, in your Google classroom folder. Complete the chart as you compare the science fiction story with the actual historical events.

The Salem Witch Trials

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

C

1. Complete the Agree-Disagree statements. Be prepared to share your responses with your group.

2. The Twilight Zone was a television series created by Rod Serling in the 1960's. As you view the opening for this science fiction series, think about the mood that Rod Serling was trying to create.

3. Read along with the audio of the teleplay for "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." As you read, think about a possible theme or message about human behavior that Serling is trying to convey.

4. In each of the Twilight Zone episodes, screenwriter Rod Serling, would narrate a short epilogue. Often, his epilogue provided hints as to the episode's theme, or message. Listen to and view the closing of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."

4a.  Follow the directions on your document to reread the last scenes with your group. 
4b.  Compose a statement of the theme. What is the point that Serling is trying to make about our flaws as humans?
Possible sentence starters:

People tend to...       if...
                        when...
                        so...

One of our flaws is that 
   we have a tendency to...    if...
                               when...
                               so...

5. Reread the teleplay to collect evidence about the theme. Use the Evidence Chart to record text evidence and the inferences that you make.