Grapes of Wrath

by SparkNotes, John Steinbeck

Grapes of Wrath Sparks Notes

100 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1964

About the author

Many of the editions by this group of authors are actually guides to books rather than the works.

If the author of the SparkNotes is known, they should be the first author. Please leave these SparkNotes Editors as the second author and the author of the original work as the last author. Do not combine with the original work. Do not put the author of the ORIGINAL work first.

Link to discussion.

Reviews

[Robin Redden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will occasionally use CliffsNotes or sparknotes when reading a classic novel or text where I might miss some of the important literary themes, symbols, etc. If I’m investing my time in a classic, I want to fully engage. For The Grapes of Wrath, I happened to have a version of each of these study guides and decided it would be interesting to read both. This review is the same compare/contrast review I’ve posted on my review for both guides.

First off, both are comprehensive and easy to read. They provide extra material on the author, characters, quizzes, sample essays etc. I’ve tried to capture the major differences in bold below.

CliffsNotes
- Personal Background and Career Highlights of Steinbeck
- An introduction that contains the historical background, Steinbeck’s writing experience, critical reception of the novel, the unconventional (at the time) structure of the novel and a summary of the social philosophies espoused in the work.
- A plot synopsis and character list
- Deeper dive into main characters
- Both contain detailed summaries and analysis of each chapter
- Two critical essay examples
- Quiz, Key quotes, example essay and project ideas
- A Resource Center with further reading and films

sparknotes
- A briefer level of information about Steinbeck and more of a general context around society at the time of the novel
- A plot synopsis and character list
- Deeper dive into main characters
- Themes, motifs, symbols
- Both contain detailed summaries and analysis of chapters (in groups of 3 chapters)
- Deeper dive into select quotations
- Key facts including setting, genre, publisher, point of view, type of narrator, tone, tense, major conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, use of foreshadowing
- 3 examples of study questions and answers
- The key difference is that sparknotes provides a 7 step, 12-page general section on “How to Write Literary Analysis”
- An example A+ essay
- A glossary of literary terms
- A note on plagiarism
- A quiz
- Selections for further reading

[Nuria]

Really helped me to analyze Grapes of Wrath, nice themes, explain without complicate things.