View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What operation does Holden tell the woman he has to have?

2. What does Pencey Prep serve for dinner on Saturdays?

3. Why does Holden say he left Elkton Hills?

4. What does Holden do when Stradlater reacts to the composition he has written?

5. What does Holden's cab smell like?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Allie's baseball mitt described?

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

3. Why is Holden so upset when he discusses Stradlater's date?

4. Why does Holden refer to D.B.'s writing in Hollywood as prostitution?

5. Why does Holden feel sad when he shakes Mr. Spencer's hand to say goodbye?

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

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

8. Why does Mr. Spencer read Holden's essay on the Egyptians to him?

9. What does Holden think of his siblings?

10. How does Holden wish he had handled his missing gloves as opposed to how he would likely have handled it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Identify the point of view of The Catcher in the Rye. How is the point of view identified? How does the point of view affect the novel? Why does the author use this point of view to tell the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Holden's use of fantasy throughout the novel. What scenes and situations does he imagine? Why does he create these fantasies for himself? How do these fantasies affect the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 615 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample