ENG 2DP: The Catcher in the Rye
Chapter 1 – 20 Quest Review
Format:
Multiple Choice – Content, vocabulary and meaning
Quote Analysis – Meaning and interpretation – character, conflict, theme, symbolism,
literary devices etc.
Paragraph Response – Theme
Instructions: Answer the following questions to review for the quest on Monday.
Part A: Multiple Choice
*see sheet for sample questions*
Part B: Quote Analysis
We have already analyzed quotes together as a class. Review key quotes from the questions and
discussions. When analyzing the significance of a quote, keep in mind the following:
Plot development – a quote may develop plot (often not the case in The Catcher in the Rye), or
foreshadow events or changes to come.
2. Atmosphere – the quote may establish atmosphere and / or develop suspense.
3. Tone – the quote may reveal the author’s attitude toward the
4. Character Development – the quote may reveal character traits, development or change. It may
also establish relationships between characters and how these relationships change.
5. Conflict – the quote may introduce, illustrate or develop one or more conflict in the novel.
6. Theme – most quotes chosen for analysis reveal theme; it may also contain a motif.
7. Setting – a quote may establish the time, place, social and historical setting.
8. Irony – a quote may contain irony (and dramatic irony); the irony may contribute to meaning.
9. Imagery; Literary Devices – quotes may provide an image of a character, setting that contributes
to the overall meaning.
10. Diction – what does the word choice reveal
11. Pathos – a quote may develop pathos for a certain character or conversely withdraw
sympathy(ies) from that character
**See next page**
Part C: Paragraph Response
1.
There are several themes from The Catcher in the Rye. To prepare for the quest, write your thoughts
about one or more of the following themes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Holden’s disgust with the “phoniness” of the adult world
The use of anger to deflect pain (defense mechanism)
The reversal of failure and achievement (failure as achievement)
Holden’s confusion over his sexuality
The loss of innocence
Loneliness and alienation from society
Guilt for sins
ENG 2DP: The Catcher in the Rye
Chapter 1 – 20 Quest Review
Quotes for Review cont’d
“I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I
don’t care too much for most of the other stuff. Take the Disciples for instance. They annoy the hell out
of me. . . They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while he was alive, they were as much use
to him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down” (99).
“The goddam movies. They can ruin you. I’m not kidding” (104).
“I hate it when somebody has cheap suitcases. It sounds terrible to say it, but I can even get to hate
somebody, just looking at them, if they have cheap suitcases with them” (108).
“Little Shirley Beans . . . It was about a little kid that wouldn’t go out of the house because two of her
front teeth were out and she was ashamed to . . . I knew it would knock old Pheobe out” (114).
“The kid was swell. . . he kept singing and humming. I got up closer so I could hear what he was
singing. He was singing that song. ‘If a body catch a body coming through the rye.’ He had a pretty little
voice, too. He was singing just for the hell of it, you could tell. . . It made me feel better. It made me
feel not so depressed any more” (115).
“I don’t like shows very much, if you want to know the truth. They’re not as bad as movies, but they’re
certainly nothing to rave about. In the first place, I hate actors. They never act like people. They just
think they do. Some of the good ones do, in a very slight way, but not in a way that’s fun to watch. If an
actor’s really good, you can always tell he knows he’s good and that spoils it” (117).
“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d
move. You could go there a thousand times . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be
different would be you. Not that you’d be so much older or anything. . . You’d just be different, that’s all
. . I kept thinking about old Pheobe . . . how she’d be different every time she saw it. It didn’t exactly
depress me. . . but it didn’t make me feel gay as hell either. Certain things should stay the way they are”
(121 - 122).
“You ought to go to a boys school sometime. . . It’s full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you
can learn enough to earn enough to buy a goddam Cadillac some day . . . the guys on the basketball team .
. the Catholics . . intellectuals . . . stick together” (131).
“Here’s my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of here?” (132).
“I said no, there wouldn’t be marvelous places to go to after I went to college and all. Open your ears. . .
I’d be working in some office, making a lot of dough, and riding to work in cabs . . . It wouldn’t be the
same at all. You don’t see what I mean at all” (133).
“Sally said I was a sacrilegious atheist, I probably am. The thing Jesus really would’ve like would be the
guy that plays the kettle drums in the orchestra” (138).
“So do I! I regard it as a wuddayacallit – a physical and spiritual experience and all. I really do. But it
depends on who the hell I’m doing it with(146) . . . Maybe I’ll go to China. My sex life is lousy’ . . .
‘Naturally. Your mind is immature’ ‘It is. It really is. I know it’” (147).
ENG 2DP: The Catcher in the Rye
Chapter 1 – 20 Quest Review
“Supposing I went to your father and had him psychoanalyze me and all . . . What would he do to me?’
‘He wouldn’t do a goddam thing to you. He’d simply talk to you and you’d talk to him, for God’s sake.
For one thing, he’d help you recognize that patterns of your mind” (148).
“I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome. . . I figured I’d go by that little lake and see what the hell
the ducks were doing. . .” (153). “Then I finally found it. What it was, it was partly frozen and partly not
frozen. But I didn’t see any ducks around” (154).
“. . . my parents go out quite frequently and stick a bunch of flowers on old Allie’s grave. I went with
them a couple of times, but I cut it out. . . I certainly don’t enjoy seeing him in that crazy cemetery . . .
That’s what nearly drove me crazy. All the visitors could get in their cars . . . everybody except Allie. I
couldn’t stand it. I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his soul’s in Heaven and all
that crap, but I couldn’t stand it anyway. I just wish he wasn’t there. You didn’t know him. If you’d
known him, you’d know what I mean” (155-156).