The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

An allegory is a fictional story that directly symbolizes a real-life event. A narrative’s allegorical elements are typically implied rather than stated outright and often impart a moral message.

“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” is frequently read as an allegory for the second Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. Like countersubversive anti-communists, Charlie leads his community in a witch-hunt to flush out a faceless interloper. If the metaphor is followed to its logical conclusion, the episode’s message is a liberal anti-communist critique of McCarthyism: The real aliens (the real communists) are outside of the community, and they are waiting for Maple Street’s residents (Americans) to tear each other apart before striking. 

A flat character is a character that is defined by one or two very basic traits. They often reflect stereotypes. Flat characters are considered the opposite of “round” characters, which are complicated and nuanced.

Maple Street is comprised of an ensemble cast of flat characters. Steve is the voice of reason, Charlie the paranoiac, Tommy the guileless child, Goodman the cornered victim, and the rest of the cast are simply faceless members of an angry mob.