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Catcher in the Rye Test

Knowledge
Questions

1.) Holden says you take every handsome guy, or a guy that thinks hes a
real hot-shot and theyre always asking you to do them a big favor. Just
because theyre crazy about themselves, they think youre crazy about
them too, and that youre just dying to them a favor. What can you
interpret about the meaning of this quote?
a. Holden is tired of people not paying attention to him
b. Holden feels left out because he wishes he was as handsome as some
of the guys

Skills
address
ed
Quote

c. Holden hates people that are full of themselves because no one really
even pays attention to hot-shots besides themselves
d. He wants people to ask him favors more

2.) Like hell it is. I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I
was taking aim at it. This is a shooting peoples hat, I said. I shoot
people with this hat. What is the significance of this quote?

Comprehensi
onQuestions

Quote
Meaning

a. Holden thinks he looks cool in the hat

b. He wants attention from others
c. Holden feels very vulnerable and its a way of him to feel tough and
brave
d. Holden wants to stand out from others and not be a phony

3.) What can you infer about Holdens feelings toward Jane?
a. Holden despises her because he thinks of her as a phony
b. He believes that Jane only cares for herself and shows no compassion
towards others
c. Holden thinks of Jane as worthless and wishes Stradlater would not go
out with her
d. Holden feels a strong connection toward her because he feels she has
not lost her innocence
4.) Who said Life is a game boy. Life is a game that no one plays according
to the rules.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Mr. Spencer
Ackley
Phoebe
Holden

Quote

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5.) How does Holdens loneliness become the main theme in the Catcher in
the Rye?

Application

a. Holden keeps to himself throughout the novel, isolating himself from

others
b. He speaks to no one because he thinks everyone is a phony
c. He believes he is better off alone
d. Holden reaches out to just about anyone, as a cry for help, he tries to
strike up a conversation with anyone he comes in contact with

Tone

Quote

6.) Suggest which of the following elements were being used in this quote,
She has bout
five thousand notebooks; you would never saw a kid
with so many notebooks.
a. Personification
b. Metaphor
c. Alliteration
d. Hyperbole
7.) Why does Holden refer to himself as yellow in chapter 13?
a. His brother Allie would say he felt yellow and Holden wanted to follow his
brothers footsteps
b. Holden feels yellow when he communicates with a phony
c. Yellow is way for Holden to express his compassion towards others and his
cowardly personality
d. Holden describes himself as yellow because he has a shy personality and
wishes he was more outgoing

Rhetorical
Elements

Quote

8.) What can you infer from this quote the minute I went in, I was sort of
Meaning
sorry Id come. He was reading The Atlantic Monthly, and there were pills and
medicine all over the place, and everything smelled like Vicks Nose Drops. It
was pretty depressing, old Spencer had on his very sad, ratty old bathrobe
that he was probably born in or something. I dont much like to see old guys
in their pajamas and bathrobes anyway.
a. Holden is depressed by physical illness
b. Holden cant stand old people
c. Holden loves reading especially newspapers
d. Holden looks up to old Spencer
9.) Compare and contrast Phoebe and Holden
a. They both get along with every type of person very well
b. They both can relate well to one another
c. They both are always depressed

Compare
and
contrast

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d. They both have been expelled from school multiple of times

10.) Who helps Holden discover himself and his loss of innocence the most?
a.
b.
c.
d.

His sister, Phoebe

Holdens father
His brother, Allie
Jane Gallagher

11.) Which quote does not show innocence?

Analysis

a. Im always saying glad tove met you to someone Im not at all glad to
have met
b. Then she really started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing
her all over
c. Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row
d. People are always ruining things for you

Quote
Tone

Quote

12.) Why is this quote significant? ... do you happen to know where they go,
the ducks, when the pond gets frozen over?
a. It is a symbol for Holdens interest in the reality of what happens to a
person, like him, when life gets rough
b. Holden feels that he should follow the ducks so he does not have to return
home
c. Holden hates his life and wishes he could fly away to a peaceful place like
the ducks
d. Holden was just trying to strike up a conversation because he was feeling
lonely
13.) Compare and Contrast Holden and his brother Allie
a. They both played baseball
b. Holden is depressed, but Allie was always happy
c. Holden is trying to find himself, but Allie already knew who he was
because he was very intelligent and had his mind set
d. They both went to Pencey Prep
14.) Holden is depressed throughout the entire book, why does he frequently
talk to his dead brother Allie?
a. has no one else to talk to
b. Holden feels more comfortable because no one responds to him and it is a
way for him to let things out
c. He is bored and everyone around despises him
d. Holden knows that he has no one to turn to and he complains about his
life to Allie
15.) How does Holden view the world?

Compar
e and
Contras
t

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Synthesis

a.
b.
c.
d.

Dangerous
Exciting
phony
Realistic

Quote

16.) When I leave a place I like to know Im leaving it. If you dont you feel
even worse. What can you infer from this quote about Holdens character?
a. Holden wouldnt want anyone mad at him for leaving without anyone
knowing
b. He doesnt really care how he feels, he just acts like he does
c. Holden is trying to hint to us that he is moving away
d. Holden wants us to know that if he were to leave, he would be sure to
say his final goodbyes to the things he loves most.

Meani
ng

17.) Why is Allies baseball glove so significant to Holden?

a.
b.
c.
d.

Holden and Allie used to play baseball together

The glove had poems written all over it
It was the last piece of Allie that Holden had left
The baseball glove had been passed down through each generation of the
family

Quote

18.) The best thing though, in that museum was that everything always
stayed where it was. Nobodyd move Nobodyd be different. The only thing
that would be different would be you. What is the significance of this quote?
a. Holden wishes the museum would change
b. As the museum remains the same, Holden wishes he could always remain
the same, instead of changing for the worst
c. This shows us that he hates the fact he is different from others
d. Holden wants to freeze time so he wont turn into someone he does not
want to be
Evaluation

Short Answer:
19.) Does Salinger allow the reader to have complex, conflicted feelings
about Holden or does he allow us to see Holden as detached, cynical, and
self-centered?

Tone

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Quote
20.) Evaluate why Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye based on this
quote. What I have to , I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the
cliff- I mean if theyre running and they dont look where theyre going I have
to come up and catch them. What are the positive and negative aspects of
his fantasy? What is the deeper meaning of the quote and why does Holden
feel that he must be the catcher?

Meanin
g

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Answer Key:
1. C
2. C
3. D
4. A
5. D
6. D
7. C
8. A
9. B
10. A
11. D
12. A
13. C
14. B
15. C
16. D
17. B
18. B