English- Catcher in the Rye Test + Vocab

What is Holden's connection to Jane Gallagher?

A girl whom Holden spent a lot of time with one summer in Maine, when their families stayed neighboring summer houses in Maine. She is one of the only girls that Holden actually respects and finds attractive. He uses her as one of his emotional outlets.

Who is Allie and what caused his death?

Allie is Holden's brother. He had red hair, an extremely nice human being with intelligence and humor. Allie died from leukemia.

What's the one thing Holden actually liked about Selma Thurmer, the headmaster's daughter?

He liked that she recognized that her father, the headmaster, was a phony. She was, physically, a mess, but he liked that she realized her father wasn't as great as everyone said he was.

. How does Holden describe his parents? His older brother, D.B.? His history teacher, Old Spencer?

He says his parents are nice, but touchy. He says his term-7brother, a writer in Hollywood, is pretty much a prostitute, selling his writing talents to the highest bidder. He says that Old Spencer is sort of gross. Interesting, all three of these are adults who are interested in helping Holden succeed in life, yet he views them all with negativity.

Chapters 1 + 2

He says his parents are nice, but touchy. He says his term-7brother, a writer in Hollywood, is pretty much a prostitute, selling his writing talents to the highest bidder. He says that Old Spencer is sort of gross. Interesting, all three of these are adults who are interested in helping Holden succeed in life, yet he views them all with negativity.

Holden says it sounds terrible when someone wishes you good luck as you're leaving. Why does he think this? Do you agree?

He thinks the well-wishing implies that he's going to need good luck in the future, as things appear bleak for him. Students' answers to the second question will vary.

At the beginning of ch. 3, Holden says, "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible." Dig into the text of ch. 1-4 and find at least three examples of Holden lying to people. Jot them down.

Here's three: 1. He told Old Spencer he had to go to the gym to pick up his equipment when he did not. 2. He hasn't told his parents that he's been kicked out of the school. 3. He tells Old Spencer that he looked through his history textbook when it's clear he never cracked the book.

Does conforming that Holden is, in fact, a liar cause you to question the truth of what he tells us as the story's narrator? Is Holden telling the truth to his reading audience or is he lying to us, too? How does the answer to that question affect the way you'll read this story?

His lying should cause us to question the validity of everything he tells us. Again, he is an unreliable narrator. He does seem to tell us the truth about what he's really thinking, but we should be wary and view the descriptions of what Holden tells us with a critical eye.

In ch. 2, Holden is critical of Old Spencer for getting "a big bang" out of buying an old, beat-up Navajo blanket and for repeatedly calling him "boy" because Holden hates the insulting term. The irony of this is unveiled in ch. 3-4 when Holden does two similar things. What are the two parallel things that Holden has/does in this chapter that mimic Old Spencer? Why do you think Salinger included such connections between Holden and Old Spencer? What point was Salinger trying to make?

Holden got a kick out of buying the red hunting cap. He also enjoys calling Ackley "kid," even though Ackley hates the term in just the same way Holden hates being called "boy" by Old Spencer. Salinger wants us to notice that Holden is a hypocrite. Salinger seems to suggest that we are all hypocrites, doing exactly those things that we hate seeing other people do.

Old Spencer says, "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." Look at Holden's response to his history teacher. What's the irony here? What do we see about Holden that he doesn't see about himself?

Holden is a phony, too, because he pretends to agree with Mr. Spencer, when he actually feels just the opposite, as he tells us in the narration. Also, Holden thinks he's not in the "hot-shot" group, however he comes from a wealthy family that has the means to pay for one expensive prep school after another. He is on the winning side of the game of life, but he just doesn't realize it.

Give two examples of Holden's adult-like qualities.

Holden knows to say the right thing at the right time, as seen when he says the appropriate, polite things to Mr. Spencer. He also has gray hair and is nearly 6-foot-3-inches tall.

Give two examples of Holden's child-like qualities.

Holden loses the fencing team's foils and equipment on the subway, yet he claims that it isn't his fault that he lost the equipment because he had to keep checking a map on the wall. He refuses to take responsibility for his failings, a classic sign of immaturity. Also, he admits that he often acts like he's 12 or 13.

Holden has "flunked out of several schools and tells us that he's "quite illiterate." Is this true? Explain how you know this.

Holden reads books for fun and actually enjoys them, so this statement is false

If life is a game, as Old Spencer insists in ch. 2, then what do you make of Jane Gallagher's habit of keeping all of her kings in the back row when she played checkers with Holden? Assign some symbolic significance to her actions.

It means she is not aggressive and willing to do anything that will risk anything that is valuable to her. We learn that she is sexually assaulted by her step father, probably causing her to be anxious and careful about her next steps in life.

Holden is what is known as an unreliable narrator, meaning we shouldn't fully accept everything he tells us without thinking more critically about his statements. Find and record two examples of Holden skewing reality with exaggeration.

There's numerous examples of this in the first two chapters, but here's two: 1. He says that Pencey Prep advertises in "about a thousand magazines." 2. He says that D.B.'s new Jaguar sports car "can do around two hundred miles an hour."