1. What best describes the opening setting of the story?

a. 1950s Pencey Prep School, Pennsylvania

b. 1960s Pencey Prep School, New York
c. 1960s Elkton Boarding School, Pennsylvania
d. 1940s Pembrook Hill School, New York
2. The following quote best represents which theme?
The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed
right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand
times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the
birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of
that water hole []. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be
different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It
wouldn't be that exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. [] I mean you'd
be different in some way I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could,
I'm not sure I'd feel like it. (Chapter 16, paragraph 24)
a. The phoniness of the adult world
b. The use of alienation as a form of self-protection
c. The loss of innocence
d. Mortality
3. Who is Allie?
a. Holdens dad
b. Holdens dog
c. Holdens favorite teacher
d. Holdens deceased little brother
4. Which of the following is NOT a main theme of the novel?
a. The phoniness of the adult world
b. The loss of innocence
c. The use of alienation as a form of self-protection
d. The yearning for maturity and respect from authority
5. What is the significance of Holdens red hunting cap?
a. It represents his anger
b. It represents his individuality
c. It represents his happiness
d. It represents his sadness
6. Read the following passage from chapter nine, paragraph one:
The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into
this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz but as soon as I was
inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. My brother D.B. was in
Hollywood. My kid sister Phoebe goes to bed around nine oclockso I
couldnt call her up... Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz
and find out when Janes vacation started, but I didnt feel like it. [] Then I
thought of calling this girl [] Sally Hayes. [] I thought of calling [] Carl
Luce, but I didnt like him much. So I ended up not calling anybody. I came
out of the booth, after about twenty minutes or so.
Based on the passage, what can you infer about Holden?
a. Holden hates everyone.

b. Holdens isolation is due largely in part to himself.

c. Holden misses Jane Gallagher.
d. Holden is very angry with everyone he knows.
7. Read the following quote from chapter eleven, paragraph three:
[Jane] was sort of muckle-mouthed. I mean when she was talking and she
got excited about something, her mouth sort of went in about fifty directions,
her lips and all. That killed me.
Using context clues, what does the phrase That killed me, mean?
a. I loved that.
b. I hated that.
c. That made me mad.
d. That made me sad.
8. Which of the following events happened last?
a. Holden leaves Pencey Prep School.
b. Holden reconnects with Sally Hayes.
c. Holden goes to visit his sister Phoebe.
d. Holden goes to New York City and attempts to find someone to have a
meaningful conversation with.
9. Which of the following quotes best exemplifies J.D. Salingers use of diction
and syntax to create mood of anxiety and distress?
a. I didnt want to, but I started thinking about old Mr. Antolini and I
wondered what hed tell Mrs. Antolini when she saw I hadnt slept
there. [] That part didnt worry me too much, though. [] But what
did worry me was the part about how Id woke up and found him
patting me on the head and all. I mean I wondered if just maybe I was
wrong about thinking he was making a flitty pass at me. I wondered if
maybe he just liked to pat guys on the head when theyre asleep. I
mean how can you tell? [] You cant. [] I mean I started thinking
that even if he was a flit he certainlyd been very nice to me. I thought
about [] how he went to all that trouble giving me that advice about
finding out the size of your mind and all, and how he was the only guy
thatd even gone near that boy James Castle. [] The more I thought
about it, the more depressed I got [] the more depressed and
screwed up about it I got. [] Besides that, I was sort of getting a
cold. (Chapter 25, paragraph 4)
b. I was getting a little too personal. I realize that. But that was one of
the annoying things about Luce. When we were at Whooton, hed
make you describe the most personal stuff that happened to you, but
if you started asking him questions, he got sore. Those intellectual
guys dont like to have an intellectual conversation with you unless
theyre running the whole thing. They always want you to shut up
when they shut up, and go back to your room when they go back to
their room. [] Old Luce [] always wanted everybody to go back to

their own room and shut up when he was finished being the big shot.
(Chapter 19, paragraph 57)
c. My favorite author is my brother D.B., and my next favorite is Ring
Lardner. My brother gave me a book by Ring Lardner for my birthday,
just before I went to Pencey. [] What I like best is a book thats at
least funny once in a while. [] What really knocks me out is a book
that, when youre all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it
was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone
whenever you felt like it. That doesnt happen much, though. (Chapter
3, paragraph 4)
d. Boy, it began to rain like a bastard. In buckets, I swear to God. All the
parents and mothers and everybody went over and stood right under
the roof of the carrousel, they wouldnt get soaked to the skin or
anything, but I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty
soaking wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really
gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I
didnt care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old
Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt
so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I dont know why. It was
just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and
around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you couldve been there.
(Chapter 25, pg. 212)
10.Read chapter 26. What can you infer about Holdens current situation from
this chapter? What does Holden mean by I got sick?
a. Holden caught a serious illness and is now retelling the story from the
hospital.
b. Holden suffered a mental break and is now in a mental ward or
sanitarium.
c. Holden suffered a severe physical injury and is now recovering in a
hospital.
d. Holden was diagnosed with a terminal illness and is living under the
care of doctors.
11.Which of the following events happened first?
a. Holden visits Mr. Antolini.
b. Holden gets expelled from Pencey.
c. Holden gets into a fight with his roommate, Stradlater.
d. Holden leaves the fencing equipment on the subway and compromises
the teams ability to participate at a tournament.
12.Read the following passage from Chapter 14 about Holdens thought process
after having been in an altercation with the elevator operator, Maurice, and
the prostitute:
I wasnt knocked out or anything. [] But Im crazy. [] About halfway to
the bathroom, I sort of started pretending I had a bullet in my guts. Old
Maurice had plugged me. Now I was on the way to the bathroom to get a
good shot of bourbon or something to steady my nerves and help me really

go into action. I pictured myself coming out of the goddam bathroom,

dressed and all, with my automatic in my pocket, and staggering around a
little bit. Then Id walk downstairs. [] What Id do, Id walk down a few floors
holding onto my guts, blood leaking all over the placeand then Id ring
the elevator bell. As soon as old Maurice opened the doors, hed see me with
the automatic in my hand and hed start screaming at me, in this very highpitched, yellow-belly voice, to leave him alone. But Id plug him anyway. [...]
Then Id crawl back to my room and call up Jane and have her come over and
bandage up my guts. I pictured her holding a cigarette for me to smoke while
I was bleeding and all. The goddam movies. They can ruin you. Im not
kidding.
What about this passage is contradictory of Holdens general attitude?
a. Holden loves movies, but criticizes them here.
b. Holden preaches about non-violence, but takes pleasure in a very
violent scenario.
c. Holden hates Jane, but here he fantasizes about calling her up.
d. Holden openly detests phonies and cowards, but here he is seen being
phony and cowardly about the situation he was in.

13.Which of the following events of Holdens past is most likely NOT related to
his obsession with protecting innocence?
a. Holden being sexually abused in the past.
b. The seemingly sudden death of his younger brother, Allie.
c. His expulsion from several boarding schools.
d. The suicide of James Castle, a young boy who attended an old boarding
school with him.
14.What does Holden allude to about the relationship between Jane Gallagher
and her stepfather and what is its significance?
a. Jane was abused by her stepfather; this is significant to Holden
because it affirms his distrust of adults.
b. Jane was happy with her stepfather; this is significant to Holden
because it demonstrates that not all adults are bad.
c. Jane was abused by her stepfather; this is significant because it
reaffirms Holdens belief that parents are bad.
d. Jane did not mention anything about her stepfather.
15.How does J.D Salingers use of syntax contribute to the story?
a. The grammar and arrangement and wording of phrases is natural and
gives one the sense of being inside the mind of a complex and human
teenager. Run-on sentences and strung-out phrases give the sense of
being inside a quick-thinking mind.
b. The accurate grammar and conventional syntax allows for the reader
to easy understand the narrative.

c. The phrasing makes Holden appear very proper and formal, making
the story feel stilted and artificial.
d. The grammar and phrasing has no effect on the tone or mood of the
story.
16.What changes would best improve the grammatical errors in this sentence?
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing youll probably want to
know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my
parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David
Copperfield kind of crap, but I dont feel like going into it, to tell you the
truth.
a. Remove and from after each comma except for the phrase and all
that David Copperfield kind of crap, and add a semi-colon after the
afore-mentioned phrase.
b. Remove all commas.
c. Replace all commas with a period.
d. The sentence is already grammatically correct.
17.How does Holden view most women?
a. Holden respects them.
b. Holden ridicules most girls for being airheaded but also objectifies
them.
c. Holden hates all women.
d. Holden believes all women are the pinnacle of purity and innocence
and must be protected.
18.Which of the following quotes best represents the theme of youth?
a. Boy! I said. I also say Boy! quite a lot. Partly because I have a lousy
vocabulary and partly because I act quite young for my age
sometimes. I was sixteen then, and Im seventeen now, and sometimes
I act like Im about thirteen. Its really ironical, because Im six foot two
and a half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head
the right sideis full of millions of gray hairs. Ive had them ever since
I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve.
Everybody says that, especially my father. Its partly true, too, but it
isnt all true. People always think that somethings all true. I dont give
a damn, except that I get bored sometimes when people tell me to act
my age. Sometimes I act a lot older than I amI really dobut people
never notice it. People never notice anything.
b. Ill just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around
last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out
here and take it easy. I mean, thats all I told D.B. about, and hes my
brother and all. Hes in Hollywood. That isnt too far from this crumby
place.
c. You remember I said before that Ackley was a slob in his personal
habits? Well, so was Stradlater, but in a different way. Stradlater was
more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, Stradlater, but for

instance, you shouldve seen the razor he shaved himself with. It was
always rusty as hell and full of lather and hairs and crap. He never
cleaned it or anything. He always looked good when he was finished
fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyways, if you knew him
the way I did.
d. None of these quotes represent the theme of youth properly.

19.Create a short passage using the voice of Holden Caulfield. Be sure to keep in
mind syntax, diction, phrasing, and use of slang.

20.It can be argued that Catcher in the Rye is a novel in which the protagonist is
a static, or unchanging, character. Defend or refute the argument that, until
the very conclusion of the novel, Holden is a static character. Include quotes
or examples.