I swear to you I know." This has never and will never end well.Over the course of The Eye-Dancers, the four main characters undergo many dangerous, even life-threatening, situations. As anyone who is on Twitter could attest to, there are any number of people who in the face of a crisis are- like Charlie- ready to shout, " Look, look I swear to you.it isn't me.but I do know who it is.I swear to you, I do know who it is. The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street takes a rather dim view of human nature and, while I don't believe by any means that this is the only possible human response to an inexplicable, fear-inducing situation, it's certainly a very possible one. The aliens have won without firing a shot, not so much by sowing the seeds of discord and destruction in the residents of Maple Street, but by providing fertile ground for those seeds already present in them to grow. Maple Street has turned into Lord Of The Flies- people losing the vestiges of civilization through paranoia and fear, violently attacking and counter-attacking one another. Those who don't agree with the violence generally keep quiet for fear of becoming targets of the mob themselves, like Steve did.
The paranoid ravings of a few nuts like Charlie work on the fears and anxieties of the other residents who, scared and angry, form a violent mob, behaving in ways as a group which they would never do as individuals. The irony is, of course, that there actually are hostile alien invaders and the Maple Street residents are playing right into their hands by turning on each other. The shock of Pete's death snaps him out of it, but it's too late. He has- momentarily, anyway- slipped into thinking of the alien invaders as a sure thing.
When the rifle is being brandished around, instead of saying the sane and sensible thing- that it could be anybody walking up the street towards them, he asks what good the gun will do, implying that it will be useless against aliens.
#THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON MAPLE STREET TRIAL#
They might as well be demanding trial by ordeal for suspected witches.Įven Steve, the voice of reason throughout this debacle- who has been calling for calm and rational behaviour- is not totally unaffected by the paranoid rhetoric and panic. residents start to regard each other distrustfully, putting the worst possible spin on the motives of The Other they grant no benefit of the doubt, and reject the need for evidence or proof. This results in the transformation of neighbours and friends into possible- maybe even probable-suspects. The real darkness is caused by the descent of the street's denizens into attitudes and actions based on fear and superstition, letting these things outweigh their rationality and sense of community. This is truer than he knows although not for the reason he thinks. Later on, brooding over the continuing blackout, Charlie remarks to his wife that it's like a return to the dark ages. He vocalizes his suspicions which causes other members of the community to also regard Les differently, reinterpreting his actions in a way that makes him seem odd. He starts reviewing Les' previously unremarkable behaviours in his mind and assigning sinister motives to them. No one- including Les- knows why, but Charlie immediately assumes that he must have been favoured in this way because of something he's done, or who he is.
everyone has no power and then, suddenly and inexplicably, Les' car is working. Someone must be to blame, however, and Charlie looks around for a likely suspect. Something is terribly wrong and no one understands what's happening.
This is what sets Charlie off, transforming him from a seemingly harmless schlub into something a lot more unpleasant.
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