PERIOD 1: FINAL REVIEW QUESTIONS (student created)
The Catcher in the Rye
1. What does Holden write about for his roommate’s homework?
2. Where is Holden telling his story from?
3. What is the name of the girl that Holden admires?
4. What does Holden wonder while in the cab?
5. What is the significance of Phoebe reaching for the gold ring on the carousel?
6. How does the main character’s name relate to his relationship with others and life?
The Great Gatsby
7. Describe Gatsby when he meets Daisy for the first time in years.
8. “So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the _________”.
9. What was the importance of the color white in The Great Gatsby?
10. What message was Fitzgerald conveying when, despite Gatsby’s social class elevation
and ability to build himself up from almost nothing, he was still unhappy and ultimately
unfulfilled?
11. What do you believe is the main reason for Gatsby’s downfall?
12. How does Gatsby depict the idea that the American dream is false?
13. During the fight in the hotel room, what does Tom call Gatsby?
14. Why doesn’t Daisy leave Tom for Jay?
15. Who says the following and who is he/she referencing: “A stirring warmth flowed from
her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless,
thrilling words” (14).
16. What does Daisy think is “the best thing for a girl to be” in this world?
17. What is significant about the scene where Gatsby is watching Daisy and Tom through the
window?
18. What did the green light represent in Jay Gatsby’s life?
19. After Gatsby’s death, where does Nick decide to go and why?
20. What is the main theme that is revealed through the characters’ downfall?
The Crucible
21. Who wrote the Crucible and what political climate was it written in?
22. What won’t the girls testify and tell the truth?
23. Why does Abigail accuse Goody Proctor of witchcraft?
24. Who is Mary Warren? Describe her personality.
25. Who was the first to be accused of witchcraft?
26. Who says the following and why: “It is a providence, and no great change, we are what
we always were, but naked now” (85).
27. How does the title of the play into the plot?
28. In the end, why does John Proctor refuse to sign the confession?
Beloved
29. In Beloved, why is the motif of “milk’” and “breast feeding” so important?
30. What is the “cradle” that Paul D mentions?
31. In Beloved, what is an example of “otherness”? What is “otherness”?
32. What was Paul D’s tobacco tin a symbol of and why was it rusted shut?
33. Why did Stamp Paid visit Sethe after Paul D left?
34. What are two theories on who Beloved could be?
Thoreau/ Transcendentalism
35. The “government is best which governs _________.”
36. Why is society a “joint-stock company”?
37. How does Thoreau believe the government should be designed?
38. What does Thoreau mean by saying “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”?
39. In the beginning of “Civil Disobedience,” what does Thoreau say that the best
government would be?
40. Name three core ideas we have discussed from our transcendentalist readings.