The Grapes Of Wrath

Now, before reading the novel The Grapes of Wrath, there are a few key facts that allow you to better understand what you are reading.   Most of these background facts can be found in the introduction of the book.   Without this valuable information the beginning of this story can be very confusing and even harder to read.
First, before reading The Grapes of Wrath, it is very important to understand that it takes place during the Great Depression in America.   This allows you, as the reader, to get a grip onto why certain things are happening and why certain characters do specific actions.   With this depression now known, it is also important to realize that during this time a severe drought led to agricultural problems in the Southern Great Plains.   This drought plays a key role in the beginning plot of the novel.   It is also important to understand how the author (John Steinbeck) writes this novel.   He writes the novel with all of the odd chapters talking about the depression as a whole and vague while he writes the even chapters with description of one main family and in lots of detail.   Without this knowledge known it would be very hard to see where the author is going throughout the story.   The difference between each chapter could have thrown the reader off from the main picture the novel is supposed to portray.
Grapes of Wrath could, very well, be a novel that confuses and irritates somebody when reading.   The important information, that is stated above, is very crucial in developing the main plot, as well as the main concept of the story.   Without it the novel could go from being a book that someone will read over and over to a book that loses interest in the eye of the reader.