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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Phoebe's favorite movie?

2. What does Holden tell Ackley the fight with Stradlater was about?

3. What does Holden ask the cab driver about?

4. How many fights does Holden claim he has been in?

5. What does Holden's cab smell like?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two reasons does Holden give for not talking about his early childhood?

2. Why does Holden feel bad about not telling Mrs. Morrow his real name?

3. Why does Stradlater criticize Holden's composition about Allie's baseball mitt?

4. Why does Holden keep watching the “perverts” he sees out his hotel window?

5. Why does Ackley get on Holden's nerves?

6. Why does Holden shout to the boys in his dorm as he leaves?

7. Why does Holden like that Jane puts her hand on the back of his neck?

8. Why does Holden stay at Ernie's even though “jerks and phonies” surround him?

9. How is Allie's baseball mitt described?

10. Why does Holden like writing about Allie's baseball mitt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main conflict of the novel. What type of conflict is this? How does the author express the main conflict throughout the novel? Is this effective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Explain Holden's relationship with Jane Gallagher. Why is Jane important to Holden? How can you tell? What role does Jane play in the novel? How does she affect Holden's decisions in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Holden's relationships with adults in The Catcher of the Rye. What adults does he respect? Why does he respect them? What adults does he not respect? Why does he not respect them?

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