Comparative Analysis Essay Example: The Monsters Are Due on the Maple Street vs. The Children of the Dust Bowl

“‘Now I suppose that’s supposed to incriminate me!’” Says Goodman (10). This shows the way the Maple Street neighbors incriminate each other to solve a problem. In the spine-chilling teleplay, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” by Rod Serling and in the non-fiction “Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp” by Jerry Stanley show how different people handle difficult circumstances. In both stories, a group of people are dealing with difficult circumstances that occur. While dealing with these circumstances both stories show betrayal by the people that are most needed. 

In the stories, “ Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp” and in “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”  show how each group of people deal with their circumstances and betrayal by the most important people. In, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” Tommy says, “Except the people they’d sent down ahead of them. They looked just like humans.” (7) This quote shows how  Maple Street neighbors start making assumptions about each other even though they should be sticking together through the problem. The way that the Maple Street neighbors handle their difficult circumstance is similar and different to the way that the children in the,  “Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp”  handle betrayal and their problem. In the, “Children of the Dust Bowl” the author writes “most of the teachers ignored the migrants,”(chapter 4 paragraph 3) This quote shows how the children were treated and they did not do anything about it. This quote also shows how the children were betrayed by the people that should be helping them and they should be looking up to. These quotes show how both groups of people dealt with their circumstances and betrayal by the people that are most needed. 

The story “The Children of the Dust Bowl: True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp” and the teleplay “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” are similar because they both tell the story of a group of people responding to their problems. For instance in the “Children of the Dust Bowl,” the Okie children deal with many things. The author writes, “But the feeling of rejection was greatest among Okie children.” (chapter 4 paragraph 3) This is one thing that the Okies had to deal with. In, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” Steve says, “Well, I guess what we’d better do then is run a check on the neighborhood and see which ones of us are really human.” (8)  This shows that the problem that the Maple Street neighbors are facing is figuring out who is making bad things happen on Maple Street. The stories are also similar because both stories show betrayal by the people that are needed.

These stories are different because the characters respond to their situations differently. The neighbors on Maple Street respond to their situation by accusing people of being the cause of everything. While the Okie Children respond to their problem by doing nothing. “In 1940 Leo decided that if no one wanted the Okie kids in the public schools, then maybe the Okie children should have their own school.” (Chapter 5 paragraph 6) This quote from The Children of the Dust Bowl shows how Leo just decided to help the Okie children instead of the Okies taking care of the problem themselves. This is much different than accusing people and trying to solve the problem themselves.

In conclusion, both of these stories show a group of people dealing with their difficult circumstances and while doing this they are betrayed by the people that they need. They are similar in this way but they are also very different.  They handle their situations differently but they have a similar circumstance while dealing with the problem. Overall the non-fiction story,  “Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp” and the teleplay, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” are both showing a group of people responding to their problem and different ways.