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 READING • SET A PURPOSE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. What is the purpose of reading the information contained in this packet? _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What should you expect to be able to do after reading the material in this packet? _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ● PREVIEW THE READING In the space to the right, list anything in this pre- reading packet that might give you a sense of what you can expect to learn. ● PLAN A READING STRATEGY While you complete this pre-reading packet, you will: ● Define key terms ● Relate personal ● Complete a graphic experiences organizer ● Compare informational text ● Make inferences to a cartoon Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____ Date: _______________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DURING THE READING ● 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_________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ alliance___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ sympathizers_______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ _______________- _______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ _______________-_______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ 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 COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR: THE COLD WAR: COLD WAR: COMMUNISM from World Book NATO’S GOALS: Encyclopedia EFFECTS OF MCARTHYISM: Name: ____________________ # ____ Period: ____ Date: _______________ CREATE PERSONAL 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. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ 3. What is the purpose of the text in the cartoon? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ 4. What message is Block communicating through the cartoon? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ 5. What groups would have agreed with the cartoon’s message? Why? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ 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. 1950’s Today 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