Name: _________________

Block: __________

Catcher in the Rye Test

Knowledge Questions:
1) Who said Life is a game boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.?
a) Holden Caulfield
b) Mr. Spencer
c) Ackley
d) Sally Hayes

2) Why is Holden scared to go home before school is officially out for break?
a) He doesnt want to get in trouble with the teachers
b) He doesnt want to tell his parents he flunked
c) He loves school
d) A bully threatened to hurt him if he does

Comprehension Questions:
1) If you really want to hear about it, the first thing youll probably want to know
What might Holdens choice of language reveal about his personality?
a) outgoing, friendly
b) shy, timid
c) self-disciplined
d) assertive, dominant

2) Why does Holden get mad that Stradlater is going on a date with Jane?
a) He doesnt want Jane to lose her innocence
b) He doesnt like Stradlater

c) He is jealous of him
d) He is worried for Stradlater and knows Jane is not a good girl

3) At the end of the first act we went out with all the other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal
that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and
talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were.
What would Holdens definition of phony be?
a) People who love to smoke
b) People who are two faced and try to impress everyone
c) People who love plays and always want to talk about what happened
d) People who hate plays and acted like they did to fit in with everyone

Application Questions:
1) By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen
over? Why is Holden so interested as to where the ducks go in the winter?
a) He misses seeing the ducks in the winter
b) His project is due soon over ducks and hes trying to get as much information
as possible
c) He can relate to the ducks with the harsh situations and changes
d) He wants to help the ducks to make sure they survive the cold winter

2) Why does Holden cling to the innocence of children?

a) He wants to look out for the children and how fast they grow up
b) He misses being a child with no responsibilities
c) He wishes he had a better childhood
d) He does not like children

3) What does Holden mean when he says, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over
the cliff.
a) He needs to save the children from growing up too quickly
b) He needs to catch the children from jumping off the cliff
c) Older kids caught him when he was a child, and its his turn
d) both b & c

4) Which of the following items best symbolize adulthood for Holden?

a) Red hunting hat
b) Little Shirley Beans record
c) Vicks nose drops
d) Expensive suitcases

5) I'm not too crazy about describing rooms and houses anyway. So what I did, I wrote about
my brother Allie's baseball mitt. It was a very descriptive subject. Why is Allies baseball glove
significant?
a) Allie wrote poems inside and it showed he was different and Holden will always
remember that
b) He caught the game winning out with the glove
c) It used to be Holdens glove then he gave it to Allie when he first started playing the
game
d) Its the one thing Holden still has of Allies

Analysis Questions:
1) Now hes out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. How do J.D. Salinger and Holdens
opinions relate about what D.B. is doing in Hollywood?
a) They both love Hollywood

b) They both think he should have chosen another occupation

c) They both hate the movie industry
d) They both love movies and is so excited for D.B.

2) Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game. [] I remember around three o'clock that
afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill. What major theme is seen
through Holdens actions?
a) Sexual confusion
b) Innocence
c) Loneliness
d) Struggle of growing up

3) Can you identify the rhetorical element used in the following quote?
What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by. I mean I've left
schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad
good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you
feel even worse.
a) Ethos
b) Logos
c) Pathos
d) There is no rhetorical element used in the quote.

4) What best describes the relationship between Holden and high school students at BVW?
a) They are alike in the way they dont always look forward to going to school
b) They are alike in the way they both sometimes struggle to always find someone to talk
to and feel comfortable with to talk about their problems
c) They are different in the way Holden struggles with accepting the fact that he has to

grow up, while most high school students are willing to grow up to mature and
succeed
d) All of the above

5) Welltheyll be pretty irritated about it," I said. "They really will. This is about the fourth
school I've gone to." I shook my head. What is the function of pathos used in the Catcher in the
Rye?
a) Holden fails all of his classes
b) Holden doesnt care about anything
c) The author makes the reader feel happy for Holden that he gets a new start
d) The author makes the reader feel bad for Holden

Synthesis Questions:
1) How would The Catcher in the Rye change if the book was told in third person?
a) Readers would not understand Holden because he rarely says the things he thinks
about people out loud
b) The book would not change at all and you would still think of Holden the same way
c) Readers would continue to understand Holden because of his actions
d) The book would change entirely because the main focus wouldnt be on Holden and
what he thinks about the would

2) Holden says he is the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. Holdens word choice is a
major factor in the book. How would you improve his word choice in order for him to have more
of an adult signature style?
a) Wider range of vocabulary
b) Less sentence fragments
c) Holdens word choice already has an adult signature style

d) Both a & b

3) You'd like her. I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell
you're talking about. I mean you can even take her anywhere with you.
How would the book change if Holden was not fond of his sister, Phoebe?
a) Readers wouldnt hear him complaining about everyone and the future
b) Holden wouldnt have anyone to look forward to talk to things about
c) Holden wouldnt care about making anyone happy or pleased
d) Readers wouldnt hear him complaining about growing up

Evaluation Questions:
1) What most likely happened to Holden at the end of the story? What did he do with his life?
Did he accomplish things or was he a failure? Why?

2) How does the motif behind the ducks in the Central Park lagoon play a part in the novel?