Cliff Notes for The Grapes of Wrath
Study Guides
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Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath (Cliffs Notes) List Price: $5.99 Sale Price: $2.43 Used From: $0.01 Average Rating:   |
Description
Steinbeck wrote this book to bring into the spotlight the plight of migrant workers. In The Grapes of Wrath a migrant family travels from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to California only to be exploited by the agricultural system. The ferocity of resulting attacks on Steinbeck and his politics point to the truth and power of the stories told in this novel.
Features
- ISBN13: 9780764585968
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Reviews
worth the money. it helped the girls with a book they didn't want to read cover-to-cover.
The Cliffs Notes for The Grapes of Wrath is an extremely helpful little book when you have an obscenely short period of time to read Steinbeck's excessively long The Grapes of Wrath. I had about a week to read and write an essay on The Grapes of Wrath. I then managed to read the Cliffs Notes in a few hours. Luckily I still got 100% on my essay even though I never did read the real book. Also, the Cliffs Notes are meant to assist you in reading, not for doing what I did, but I would recommend it for either.
Some books are hard to follow. "The Grapes of Wrath" is long, but entrancing. Finishing it more a matter of time than struggle.Granted, Steinbeck's description of the immense dust overtaking Oklahoma might seem overdone, but it sets the environment from which Tom Joad is leaving. It puts the grape fields in perspective.Read "Cliff Notes" if you're in a jam, and need to get the gist of the real book in your system. However, if you have the time, read all 600+ pages of Steinbeck's magnificent story. Be engaged by Joad and his tender family as they plod across America and into dire and complex California grape fields.I recommend Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath (Cliffs Notes) as an addition to the full book, not as a replacement.Anthony Trendl
Along with reading this very tedious but thrilling novel, Cliffs Notes help the experience greatly by offering insight and added understanding into The Grapes of Wrath. With a complete character list and Chapter reviews, the reading becomes even more exciting with Cliffs Notes at your side!! Cliffs also explains the confusing and foreshadowing intercalary chapters in full, vivid detail. Cliffs also gives the background of Steinbeck himself, so the reader knows the reasons for Steinbeck writing in the style that he does. I suggest to read the Cliffs Notes to gain FULL AND COMPLETE understanding of this famous and thrilling work of literature!
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Spark Notes The Grapes of Wrath List Price: $5.95 Sale Price: $3.65 Used From: $0.01 |
Description
Get your "A" in gear!They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes™ has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. SparkNotes'™ motto is Smarter, Better, Faster because:· They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.· They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them.· The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time.And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!
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Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath (Cliffs Notes) List Price: $4.95 Sale Price: $0.01 Used From: $0.01 Average Rating:  |
Reviews
Of Mice and Men Is one of the worst books I have ever read. Let me count the ways: 1) It has immeasuably two dimensional chacters. Steinbeck stays so close to the archetypal "strong man" "seedy guy" "angry little guy" "seductive wife" its disgusting. he even has a token black guy! Absurd. 2) An equally two-dimensional plot. Steinbeck's unbearable heavy handedness in getting his all important "moral" across completely crushes out any vestige of meaningful charcterization or subtext. 3) The ending. No, I'm not about to say "ew!" What i will say is that thats what he WANTS you to think. He wants you to put down this book and "realzie the impossibility the america dream, and the cutthroat nature of humans in general." The problem with this conclusion is the entire book is completely contrived! The most absurd confluence of cicumstances that could possible occur come togethr in this book.
This book helped me save time and still gave all the information I needed for my paper! I love this book!
I loved this book, and although it was difficult to read, I think that that was where a lot of the value in it came from. If any of you have a history of sympathizing with the underdog, read this book. And the ending, although startling, is by no means disgusting -- in fact, anything less would have done an injustice to the theme of Steinbeck's story.
I wrote this review because I was severly angered by the reviews that were previously written. This book may have been boring to those who are un-compassionate or ignorant. This is a brilliant portrayl of life when the deppression hit, John Steinbeck knows people, he knows how they think. The ending made me cry because it was so desperate and deep. For those who didn't understand it, I suggest an "I-can-read" book.Those "Children" have no idea what they are talking about. I am a teenager myself and am sad to see that these ignorant fools are our future. The Grapes of Wrath is about a family and it's struggles to survive. This book is about compassion, racism, and the troubles that can bring people together or shove them apart.
Steinbeck has a fantastic command of our language and uses thisskill to weave a story of great interest but also in doing so, conveysa much deeper philosophy and view of life. Maybe when some of your other reviewers GROW UP, they will realize the treasure we have in Steinbeck and read some of his other great works.
Full-Length
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The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin Classics) List Price: $16.00 Sale Price: $8.49 Used From: $4.50 Average Rating:  |
Description
Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America’s greatest writers and cultural figures. Over the next year, his many works published as black-spine Penguin Classics for the first time and will feature eye-catching, newly commissioned art. Of this initial group of six titles, The Grapes of Wrath is in a new edition with a completely revised introduction and, for the first time, detailed notes by leading Steinbeck scholar Robert DeMott. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.
Features
- ISBN13: 9780143039433
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Reviews
The condition of the book was not as described in the offer....I believe it was described as nearly new or "as New" and the book was very tattered and marked up with a red felt pen in places. not real happy with that. Haven't had a problem in the past with Amazon.
This book isn't for everyone. People I know who haven't liked it say that it was too slow, or "What's the deal with the turtle?" and didn't get past the first couple chapters. Some say it's just too sad. For me, this book meant everything. "To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth." When I read this first line, I remember feeling like it was a line that I would always remember. I had the sense that I wasn't reading a story that some guy named Steinbeck came up with. I felt like the true feelings and experiences of a very real group of people were simply being funneled to me via Steinbeck's pen. The story felt very relevant to early 21st century America in that Fear seemed to be at the root of all evil. The Grapes of Wrath showed how Fear could be used to control and exploit people on a huge scale. It also depicted the human experience as profoundly intertwined with the earth. The characters' lives were turned upside down by nature, first by drought and later by flood. The very last scene showed how all of us are on this earth, in this life, together, like it or not and I found comfort in that. I had goosebumps and a pounding heart. All this for a book where the main characters speak in dialect about the "Fambly". Somehow John Steinbeck managed to fit what, to me, is essentially the meaning of life into a short novel about sharecroppers in the 30s. An amazing book. Please read it (all of it).
If you have not read this timeless classic yet in your lifetime, you have missed out on beatiful literature and amazing adventures. This story is not the classic that no one wants to read. If you haven' read this yet, what are you waiting for? It's not too late to read an unbelievable story that you will never forget.
Delivered quickly. But some of the pages (chapter 25)were so marked up I couldn't read the text.
I bought this book as a gift - a classic read that withstands the passage of time!
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The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition) List Price: $17.00 Sale Price: $7.25 Used From: $2.78 Average Rating: |
Description
Forced from their home, the Joad family is lured to California to find work; instead they find disillusionment, exploitation, and hunger.
Features
- ISBN13: 9780142000663
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Reviews
The condition of the book was not as described in the offer....I believe it was described as nearly new or "as New" and the book was very tattered and marked up with a red felt pen in places. not real happy with that. Haven't had a problem in the past with Amazon.
This book isn't for everyone. People I know who haven't liked it say that it was too slow, or "What's the deal with the turtle?" and didn't get past the first couple chapters. Some say it's just too sad. For me, this book meant everything. "To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth." When I read this first line, I remember feeling like it was a line that I would always remember. I had the sense that I wasn't reading a story that some guy named Steinbeck came up with. I felt like the true feelings and experiences of a very real group of people were simply being funneled to me via Steinbeck's pen. The story felt very relevant to early 21st century America in that Fear seemed to be at the root of all evil. The Grapes of Wrath showed how Fear could be used to control and exploit people on a huge scale. It also depicted the human experience as profoundly intertwined with the earth. The characters' lives were turned upside down by nature, first by drought and later by flood. The very last scene showed how all of us are on this earth, in this life, together, like it or not and I found comfort in that. I had goosebumps and a pounding heart. All this for a book where the main characters speak in dialect about the "Fambly". Somehow John Steinbeck managed to fit what, to me, is essentially the meaning of life into a short novel about sharecroppers in the 30s. An amazing book. Please read it (all of it).
If you have not read this timeless classic yet in your lifetime, you have missed out on beatiful literature and amazing adventures. This story is not the classic that no one wants to read. If you haven' read this yet, what are you waiting for? It's not too late to read an unbelievable story that you will never forget.
Delivered quickly. But some of the pages (chapter 25)were so marked up I couldn't read the text.
I bought this book as a gift - a classic read that withstands the passage of time!
Video & Audio
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The Grapes of Wrath List Price: $14.98 Sale Price: $7.54 Used From: $6.33 Average Rating:  |
Description
This remarkable film version of Steinbeck?s novel was nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including for Best Picture, Actor (Henry Fonda), Film Editing, Sound and Writing. John Ford won the Best Director Oscar® and actress Jane Darwell won Best Actress for her portrayal of Ma Joad, the matriarch of the struggling migrant farmer family. Following a prison term he served for manslaughter, Tom Joad returns to find his family homestead overwhelmed by weather and the greed of the banking industry. With little work potential on the horizon of the Oklahoma dust bowls, the entire family packs up and heads for the promised land ? California. But the arduous trip and harsh living conditions they encounter offer little hope, and family unity proves as daunting a challenge as any other they face.
Ranking No. 21 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films, this 1940 classic is a bit dated in its noble sentimentality, but it remains a luminous example of Hollywood classicism from the peerless director of mythic Americana, John Ford. Adapted by Nunnally Johnson from John Steinbeck's classic novel, the film tells a simple story about Oklahoma farmers leaving the depression-era dustbowl for the promised land of California, but it's the story's emotional resonance and theme of human perseverance that makes the movie so richly and timelessly rewarding. It's all about the humble Joad family's cross-country trek to escape the economic devastation of their ruined farmland, beginning when Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) returns from a four-year prison term to discover that his family home is empty. He's reunited with his family just as they're setting out for the westbound journey, and thus begins an odyssey of saddening losses and strengthening hopes. As Ma Joad, Oscar-winner Jane Darwell is the embodiment of one of America's greatest social tragedies and the "Okie" spirit of pressing forward against all odds (as she says, "because we're the people"). A documentary-styled production for which Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland demanded painstaking authenticity, The Grapes of Wrath is much more than a classy, old-fashioned history lesson. With dialogue and scenes that rank among the most moving and memorable ever filmed, it's a classic among classics--simply put, one of the finest films ever made. --Jeff Shannon
DVD Information
Binding: DVDAspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Brand: FONDA,HENRY
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Original Release Date: 1940-03-15
Actors:
- Henry Fonda
- Jane Darwell
- John Carradine
- Charley Grapewin
- Dorris Bowdon
Reviews
Great American film making by John Ford. All teenagers should be made to watch this movie to appreciate what tough times really are. Henry Fonda as Tom Joad is just great acting.
Although The Grapes of Wrath is certainly not the longest picture I've ever seen, the exceptionally fine acting combined with its emotional impact and careful attention to detail gives the film a truly epic quality. The acting is easily some of the best I've ever seen--at the very end there was a lump in my throat; I was extremely moved and I won't forget this film anytime soon! The script could not have been better; the cinematography shines and the choreography is superb. The plot moves along nicely and covers quite a bit of action despite the fact that things never seem rushed. Of course, the film can't quite match all the detail of John Steinbeck's 450+ page book; but the way the filmmakers did this, including director John Ford, it is profoundly memorable. When the picture begins, we quickly meet Tom Joad (Henry Fonda), who returns to his Oklahoma home after spending four years in prison; and it is through Tom's eyes that we see the shock people felt during the Great Depression when they were driven off the Midwestern land they had harvested for decades. On the one hand, Tom reunites with Casy, a family friend who is now a disillusioned former preacher; but on the other hand the closer he and Casy get to the Joad house the more a nasty, ominous dust storm begins to blow up and when they discover an empty house the not-so-happy tone is set for the rest of the picture. Indeed, their once cherished home is merely a hide-out for a disheveled friend named Muley (John Qualen) who tells Tom that the Joads and other families have been driven off the land by big banks. Sharecropping, the only thing they know how to do to make a living, is no longer profitable. Muley then tells Tom and Casy that Tom's family is at their Uncle John's (Frank Darien) home; and Tom, again with Casy, arrives there for a family reunion. Ma Joad (Jane Darwell in an Oscar winning performance) is thankful that Tom reached them before they left Oklahoma; the family intends to move to California. In California, they believe, there will be good paying jobs picking crops and they want Tom and Casy to come with them. Of course, many things happen to the Joad family and Casy as the plot progresses; and I won't write too much about this in order not to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that the movie was brilliantly executed and the attention to detail remains extremely impressive, to say the least. The plot and the action are extremely realistic as well. The DVD comes with terrific bonus features. On one side of the DVD disc there is a commentary by film scholar Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw (a John Steinbeck scholar). There is also a prologue that was shown to British audiences so that they would have a basic understanding of the issues in this film before they viewed it. On the other side of the DVD disc, we get a featurette biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, a restoration comparison--and even more! The Grapes of Wrath is so well done and packs such a punch that it should be required viewing for anybody when they're old enough to understand the issues explored and depicted in this film. The film accurately depicts the harsh severities of life for so many people at that time in our country's history; and that's for the best. It's educational, too! I highly recommend this for fans of the actors in this movie; and anyone who appreciates quality, classic motion pictures will not be disappointed.
I have long been a fan of this film and I was highly pleased at being able to get it on DVD at a very reasonable price! And the quality of the DVD was perfect.
Classic Henry Fonda movie set back in the depression and what families went through, must see for entire family.
Giving this film an `A' and calling it a masterpiece is really a given, so I'm just going to get that part of it out of the way. The film is a beautiful and moving epic, complete with stellar performances, poignant life lessons and dramatic (and authentic) presence of life and destiny. To consider this John Ford's triumph is not too farfetched if I say so myself. That said, this film rests oddly with me. For me, `The Grapes of Wrath' is John Ford's `Schindler's List' (or, I guess I should say that `Schindler's List' is Spielberg's `The Grapes of Wrath'). It is a moving and very `important' film that doesn't strike me the way I expected due to a coldness that permeates the screen. The film is filled with elements and situations that would bring a stone-faced man to his knees, and yet I was more haunted than I was moved. There is a detachment I felt here that, like `Schindler', works just as much as it doesn't. Like I said in my review of `Schindler's List', it may be an empty argument, but it is one worth raising. This film is based off the novel by Steinbeck, which I haven't read but have on my reading list. I know that this film, while faithful, has altered the source material a tad (especially in the ending) but so few complaints have been thrown that way, even from devoted fans of the novel. The film was made at a time when a `happy ending' or at least the portrayal of hope was needed. A film depicting the raw and harsh realities of the depression needed to end on a high note if it was going to lift any spirits. Even with the altered ending though, `The Grapes of Wrath' is a real downer, a film that exposes humanity at its coldest and cruelest (although I was moved more by the slivers of kindness). The story is that of the Joad family, a group of hard working, loving people who are forced out of their homes and sent looking for work. Tom, the eldest son, was recently released from prison, and he serves as the head of the house basically, helping his parents and siblings make their long journey to California. Along the way they meet greed and desperation in many forms. The acting is a triumph here on all ends. Henry Fonda carries a solemn understanding in his eyes as he watches everything around him crumble, and he really carries every scene of this film. John Carradine is also fantastic as Casy, the former preacher who has lost his spirit due to the circumstances that engulf him. Standout here is Jane Darwell, who actually won the Oscar for her tremendous performance. Her pleading with Tom to stay and help her, oh, that moment touched me more than any other moment in the film. `The Grapes of Wrath' is a film that is filled with frustration and depression, but as the final frames begin to roll we are offered a sliver of hope, as Ma Joad swells our hearts with her ideals on humanity and the will to survive. Still... Like I said, there is a detachment here. It is a great movie, one that gets everything perfect, and, like `Schindler', that is the big problem. Everything is `too' perfect. I know that it seems like a weak complaint (and if this goes anything like my `Schindler's List' review, it won't be a popular one either) but it is a legit one if you look at it properly. Everything is so `authentic' that it runs the gamut of stiff and feels nearly documented. It takes away from the languid naturalness of the nature of film. Like I said, debating the films brilliance is ridiculous, but for a film that is primed and ready to move you, this one may not do it one the immediate. This makes sense to me, but then again, it's me!
