Catcher in the Rye Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which member of Holden’s family works as a writer in Hollywood?
His father
His uncle
His younger brother, Allie
His older brother, D. B.
2. Before leaving Pencey, Holden visits an elderly teacher who reads aloud from one of Holden’s failed essays. Who is the teacher?
Mr. Vinson
Mr. Antolini
Mr. Spencer
Mr. Haas
3. During taxi rides in New York, Holden repeatedly wonders what happens in winter to which animals from the Central Park lagoon?
Swans
Turtles
Ducks
Geese
4. Holden buys Phoebe a recording of which song, only to break the record before giving it to her?
Comin’ Thro’ the Rye
Little Shirley Beans
Song of the Lark
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
5. From which school is Holden expelled near the beginning of the story?
Elkton Hills
Whooton School
Pencey Prep
Princeton
6. Which detail about Jane Gallagher’s checkers habit does Holden remember repeatedly?
She kept all her kings in the back row
She collected checkers from different sets
She always traded her kings immediately
She refused to play unless she moved first
7. Near the end of the novel, what does Holden watch Phoebe do while he stands in the rain?
Return his red hunting hat
Ride the carousel and reach for the gold ring
Visit the museum’s Egyptian exhibits
Pack a suitcase to leave New York
8. Holden sneaks into his family’s apartment and talks at length with which younger sibling?
Allie
Phoebe
Selma
D. B.
9. At Holden’s hotel, Maurice arranges for a young sex worker to visit Holden’s room. What name does she use?
Lillian
Bernice
Sunny
Faith
10. Which character narrates the novel?
Ward Stradlater
Robert Ackley
D. B. Caulfield
Holden Caulfield
11. The novel’s title alludes to a work by which poet?
Robert Burns
Walt Whitman
William Blake
Robert Frost
12. Which Pencey student frequently enters Holden’s room, criticizes others, and has poor personal hygiene?
Robert Ackley
Ernest Morrow
Ward Stradlater
Carl Luce
13. Who wrote The Catcher in the Rye?
J. D. Salinger
John Steinbeck
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Kurt Vonnegut
14. When Holden describes being the “catcher in the rye,” what does he imagine himself doing?
Teaching children to play baseball in a field
Guiding lost children through Central Park
Hiding with Phoebe from their parents
Stopping children from falling over a cliff
15. Stradlater asks Holden to write a composition before leaving on a date with whom?
Sally Hayes
Faith Cavendish
Sunny
Jane Gallagher
16. Whose baseball mitt is covered with poems written in green ink?
Ward Stradlater’s
Allie Caulfield’s
Robert Ackley’s
James Castle’s