Nathan M.

Pollock
Wilson Hour 4

Blooms Level
TEST QUESTIONS
of Questioning
Knowledge
1. Identify Jane Gallagher
Questions
a. She was the sister of a boy on the fencing team. She usually attended the
games, hoping to attract Holden's attention.
b. She had lived next door to Holden before he came to Pencey. They played
checkers and became good friends.
c. She was the headmaster's daughter. Holden dated her until her father made
them stop seeing each other.
d. She was the daughter of his mother's best friend. Holden introduced her to
Stradlater, because he didn't want to date her himself.

Answers

1. B
2. D

2. Where is Holden as he narrates the story?

a. He is at his parents' house in New York.
b. He is on a plane flying to Europe.
c. He is in the school library.
d. He is at a rest home in California.
1. Which example best represents irony in the story?
Comprehensio
n Questions

a. Holdens love for Phoebe and his refusal to take her with him
b. Holdens contempt for movies and his apparent familiarity with films
c. Holdens expulsion from school and his excellent grades
d. Holden calling people phonies all the time yet he is nice to the people he
despises.
2. Summarize what we learn about Holden from his diversion about his gloves
being stolen at Pencey?
a. Possessions don't mean a lot to him.
b. He calls himself a coward, but he is really too humane to hurt anyone.
c. He will jump at any chance to fight.
d. He is very selfish and materialistic.

3. Describe Holden's relationship with Jane Gallagher.

a. They have been romantically involved for over a year, although they are
currently having a disagreement because Jane wants to date others and Holden
doesn't.
b. They used to be romantically involved but now they can't stand each other.
c. They seem to be good friends, playing checkers, going to movies, and

1. D
2. B
3. C

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
talking. There was no advanced romantic involvement between them.
d. They have only spoken a few times, but Holden would like to get to know
her better

Application
Questions

1. Determine what advice Mr. Antolini gave Holden that he took to heart?
a. "Only educated and scholarly men are able to contribute something valuable
to this world."
b. "I simply find Eastern philosophy more interesting than Western."
c. "You're a real prince; a gentleman and a scholar."
d. "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die only for a cause,
while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."
2. How does Holden use the word phony in context of the novel?
a. It is a term that he uses to describe adults that he doesnt like.
b. He uses the word to ostracize people from the group of people that he likes
c. He uses the word as people who lack innocence, have already matured, and
metaphorically speaking, they are those who have fallen off the cliff of
childhood.
d. He uses the word to describe atheists.
3. What does the word yellow mean to Holden?
"It's no fun to be yellow. Maybe I'm not all yellow. I don't know. I think maybe
I'm just partly yellow and partly the type that doesn't give much of a damn if
they lose their gloves" (ch 13)
a. It means he is scared of fights and he pretends to be tough
b. He is compassionate and prefers not to fight for the sake of the other person
c. He would only fight if he had to.
d. He is simply to cowardly to fight.
4. Which example best shows J.D. Salingers use of similes in the novel?
a. "I certainly began to feel like a prize horse's ass, though, sitting there all by
myself."
b. That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddam toilet seat.
c. He put my goddam paper down then looked at me like hed just beaten hell
out of me in ping-pong or something.
d. all of the above.
5. Explain what the red hunting cap means to Holden. How does he feel about
it?
a. Holden sees himself as the catcher in the rye when he wears the hat

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

D
C
A
A
B

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
b. Holden's Hat represents Holdens isolation from society; he loves this hat
because it symbolizes his independence from others
c. since he feels judged for wearing the hat, he feels a level of rebellion every
time he wears it
d. All of the above.

Analysis
Questions

1. Analyze what Holden means when he says, Im quite illiterate, but I read a
lot?
a. He feels like he cannot read any more challenging literature because he has
already read it all.
b. He likes to read challenging literature but he isn't as well educated as he
thinks he ought to be
c. The challenge for Holden is to take his reading to the next level and
garnering the insight that can be found in a fine literary novel
d. He has trouble reading but finds joy in the activity.

2. The plot of the novel, so far, seems to be developing as a series of

encounters between Holden and other people.
What does Holdens encounter with Ackley contribute to the plot and to
Holdens character arc?
a. Ackley causes Holden to feel discouraged and jealous of him
b. It shows that Holden still thinks of himself as above others
c. Ackley is just another personality that fits into Holdens stereotype of
phonies
d. Holden is so lonely that he looks to Ackley for companionship when he is
lonely and Holden feels compassionate for Ackley because no one wants to
hang out with him.
3. Holden said he felt like committing suicide. Examine why he started feeling
this cynical?
a. He thought about the suicide of one of his school mates.
b. He started to think about how his parents would be disappointed in him
about being expelled from Pencey and how he would have to face them.
c. He thinks about his brother, Allies, death and the thoughts bring back
intense emotional feelings in Holden that forces him to rethink his situation.
d. He sees the ducks and how much their migrating is like him growing up and
he feels sad about how fast he has grown up.
4. What thought or situations stopped Holden from committing suicide.
a. He didn't want a bunch of "stupid rubbernecks" looking at him all gory.
b. He was afraid he might not succeed, and then he would have to face his
parents. c. He wanted to write a letter to Phoebe first, but he didn't have paper

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

B
D
C
C
A

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
or pencil, so he decided to wait.
d. He was going to jump out the window, but he couldn't get it open. He got
tired of trying, and fell asleep.
5. Compare Holden's feelings for Sally at the beginning of the date and at the
end.
a. He didn't like her much at the beginning, but by the end he was in love and
proposed to her.
b. He started out by saying he loved her and they talked of marriage. By the
end of the date he hated her.
c. He liked her somewhat at the beginning, by the time the date was over he
was in love.
d. He didn't like her at first, and really hated her by the end.

Synthesis
Questions

1. Evaluate the suitability of Salingers choice for the title of the novel as
Catcher in the Rye and answer how it relates to the plot. (Consider the fact that
Holdens fantasy of being the Catcher in the Rye is ultimately founded upon
a misunderstanding of the poem.)
a. The metaphorical expression Holden uses of being Catcher in the Rye
allows him to relate back to innocence and how he can save others innocence
b. The title represent the side of Holden that has hope and gives the character
meaning to life.
c. The title represents a clear picture of Holdens life and his changes
throughout the novel
d. The phrase depicts what Holden will do when he grows up to get a job.
2. What would you predict about the way Holden speaks in the novel?
a. It is meant to further show how illiterate and uneducated he is.
b. It shows his looseness of thought and that he knows there is more that could
be said about the issue at hand, but he is not going to bother going into it.
c. It shows how Holden loses focus easily and cant formulate more than one
thought at a time.
d. It characterizes him as a crazy person and represents his cynical approach
on the world.
3. Holdens use of 'and all' and its twins, 'or something,' 'or anything,' serve no
real, consistent linguistic function but are used so often throughout the text.
How do these phrases and ones like them create Holden as a character?
a. They dont. It is simply because he is a teenager and doesnt know how to
end his thoughts so they are ended loosely
b. The phrases used to be used by Allie and Holden wants to talk like him so
he can never forget Allie.
c. His word choice characterizes him as a slang speaker because of his origin

1. A
2. B
3. D

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
d. They become a clear part of the flavor of the book and become, more, a part
of Holden himself, and help to characterize him.

Essay
Evaluation
Questions

1. If Holden is so obsessed with saving children's innocence, why doesnt he

worry more about his own? What does "innocence" mean for him? To him?
2. What do you make of Holdens last line? Does it suggest that hes going to
surmount his teenage angst? Is he a round character or a flat character? Is the
last line hopeful or simply anti-climatic?