The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street '

Herd behavior is when individuals in a group make a choice and everyone else unconsciously follows them. This usually takes place when under pressure or while in danger. Either good or bad decisions can come from this. In the teleplay “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” written by Rod Serling, the article “Why Do People Follow the Crowd” written by ABC News, and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the three sources all discuss how mob mentality and herd behavior can negatively affect people’s morals and thinking process. Mob mentality and herd behavior will inevitably lead to a loss of integrity and common sense, since members will follow the group and not their on free will, which leads to a negative

effect on human relations.
Mob mentality and herd behavior leads to a negative effect on human relations, since there is a loss of morals and common sense, because members will follow the group decisions and not their own.

In the teleplay “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” written by Rod Serling, a small street in a suburban American town falls into chaos after they lose all electricity, and in an effort to find the monsters responsible, they become animals. They search for a scapegoat and let their imagination et the best of them because “for a moment their fear almost turns their walk into a wild stampede, but Steve's voice, loud, incisive, and commanding, makes them stop. ‘Wait a minute...wait a minute! Let's not be a mob!’ The people stop as a group, seem to pause for a moment, and then much more quietly and slowly start to walk across the street. ” (Rod Serling ?). The residents of Maple Street fall victim to herd mentality. They rush to find the culprit and they lose all sense of moral and judgement. As they are about to become a mob they listen to Steve as he advises that they do not. All the residents of Maple Street listen to him and sure, he did use mob mentality to do good, but it goes to show the amount of power one man holds. Similarly, in the article “Why People Follow The Crowd” written by ABC News, the article discusses how humans are willing to let go of their beliefs, morals, and

opinions so they can belong to a group and fit in, because herd behavior causes people to believe that the crowd is always right.

During World War 2, Hitler is able to gain popularity by manipulating the German people's’ minds and using mod mentality so the German people “know what their eyes are telling them, [but] they choose to ignore it, and go along with the group to belong to the group,” (ABC News 23). People choose to ignore what they see and go with the crowd because they believe that the crowd is always right. This is not always the case because when the Germans follow Hitler, it ensues in chaos. When people become part of a group, they worry about the groups needs and not the individuals. They also can tend to all think alike causing them to lose their independent thoughts. In virtue of this, individuals can become violent and rowdy because a single member of the group is, making everyone else feel that it's okay. Similar to both sources, herd behavior can have a negative affect, even if the victims are not involved directly. Comparably in the story “A Very Old Man with Enormous WIngs” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, an angel falls

to Earth, the tourists who travel to see it decide to abuse it for their own entertainment. While the defenseless angel lies in the chicken coop, “the cripples, [pull] out feathers to touch their defective parts with, and even the most merciful throw stones at him” (Marquez 8). These tourist are seeing a real life angel in front of them, something that most men could only dream of seeing and Instead of praising it, they choose to abuse it. One person may have decided to throw a rock to get the angel to move. Then everyone decides that it is acceptable to do since someone already is. The visitors decide that harming an angel for their amusement is okay since somebody else has, which goes to show, how you don’t have to directly be involved in mob mentality, for it to have an effect on them. Overall, the three sources collectively believe that herd behavior has a negative effect on human relationships and that it can be a problem for those who are part of it, and for those who are not directly involved.
Mob mentality and herd behavior will inevitably lead to a loss of morals and common sense, since members will follow the group and not their on free will, which leads to a negative effect on human relations. The three sources, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” written by Rod Serling, the article “Why do People Follow the Crowd” written by ABC News, and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, all agree that herd mentality can and will result in loss of morals, thinking process, and common sense. In other words the are all negative and have a negative effect. Herd behavior and mob mentality are the parts of human instinct that can benefit humans at times, but overall is a weakness. People use it in their everyday lives making it harder for them to realize they are being affected by herd behavior.