The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 15 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Who does Holden call at the beginning of Chapter 15?

   • Correct answer: Sally Hayes
   • Phoebe Caulfield
   • His mother
   • Jane Gallagher

   Holden calls Sally Hayes on Sunday morning and arranges an afternoon matinee date with her, despite describing her as stupid and phony.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Where does Holden store his bags after checking out of the Edmont Hotel?

   • At his parents' apartment building
   • Correct answer: In a lock box at Grand Central Station
   • With the baggage attendant at the Biltmore
   • Locked inside the trunk of the taxicab

   Holden stores his bags in a lock box at Grand Central Station, leaving him physically unmoored -- without luggage, a hotel room, or any fixed destination.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Where does Holden eat breakfast in Chapter 15?

   • At a little lunch counter in Times Square
   • In the Edmont Hotel dining room before checking out
   • At Ernie's nightclub down in Greenwich Village
   • Correct answer: At a sandwich bar near Grand Central Station

   Holden eats a large breakfast -- orange juice, bacon and eggs, toast, and coffee -- at a sandwich bar near Grand Central Station, where he meets the two nuns.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Where are the two nuns coming from?

   • A convent in New York
   • A parish in Boston
   • Correct answer: Chicago
   • Philadelphia

   The two nuns are schoolteachers who have just come from Chicago and are going to start teaching at a convent on "168th Street or 186th Street" uptown.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Which Shakespeare play does Holden discuss with one of the nuns?

   • Hamlet
   • Macbeth
   • Correct answer: Romeo and Juliet
   • A Midsummer Night's Dream

   Holden discusses Romeo and Juliet with the nun who teaches English, sharing his opinion that Mercutio is a better character than Romeo.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Who is Holden's favorite character in Romeo and Juliet?

   • Tybalt
   • Correct answer: Mercutio
   • Romeo
   • Juliet

   Holden says he liked Mercutio "the best in the play" because "He was very smart and entertaining and all." He is more bothered by Mercutio's death than by Romeo and Juliet's, and he blames Romeo for it.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How much money does Holden give the nuns as a contribution?

   • Correct answer: Ten dollars
   • Twenty dollars
   • One dollar
   • Five dollars

   Holden gives the nuns ten dollars. After they leave he is sorry he gave only ten, but he needed to keep some money for the matinee with Sally.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What about the nuns' belongings reminds Holden of Dick Slagle?

   • Their glasses with iron rims
   • The straw basket for collecting money
   • The skinny little black Bible-type book
   • Correct answer: Their inexpensive-looking suitcases

   The nuns' "very inexpensive-looking suitcases" remind Holden of Dick Slagle, his roommate at Elkton Hills, who "had these very inexpensive suitcases." The straw basket is a different thing the nun was carrying.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What did Dick Slagle do with Holden's expensive suitcases at Elkton Hills?

   • He secretly exchanged his inexpensive bags for them while Holden was away
   • He constantly borrowed them, the same way he borrowed Holden's fountain pen
   • He hid them underneath Holden's bed so nobody would compare them with his
   • Correct answer: He put them back on the rack because, Holden says, he wanted people to think they were his

   When Holden tried to hide his expensive Mark Cross bags under his bed so Dick would not feel bad, Dick pulled them back out and displayed them on the rack; Holden says he wanted people to think the bags were his.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What depresses Holden about the nuns' breakfast at the sandwich bar?

    • Correct answer: They are eating only toast and coffee while he has bacon and eggs
    • They announce that they refuse to read any romantic literature
    • They keep questioning him about whether his family is Catholic
    • They accept his offer to pay the check without expressing gratitude

    "All the two of them were eating for breakfast was toast and coffee," Holden notes, and "That depressed me." He hates eating bacon and eggs when somebody else has only toast and coffee.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of the following events actually happen in Chapter 15?

    • Holden calls Sally Hayes and arranges a matinee date.

      Happened

      Holden calls Sally and asks her to a Sunday matinee; she answers, "I'd love to. Grand."

    • Holden checks out of the Edmont Hotel and stores his bags at Grand Central Station.

      Happened

      He checks out and leaves his bags "in one of those strong boxes" at Grand Central Station.

    • Holden meets two nuns who are nurses at a hospital.

      Didn't happen

      The nuns tell Holden "they were schoolteachers"; one teaches English and the other history and American government.

    • Holden discusses Romeo and Juliet with one of the nuns.

      Happened

      The nun who teaches English asks what he has read, and they talk about Romeo and Juliet and Mercutio.

    • Holden donates fifty dollars to the nuns' collection.

      Didn't happen

      He gives them ten dollars: "They let me give them ten bucks as a contribution."

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these statements about Holden's experiences in Chapter 15 are true?

    • Holden says his favorite character in Romeo and Juliet is Mercutio.

      Happened

      Holden says, "I liked him the best in the play, old Mercutio."

    • Holden is sorry he gave the nuns only ten dollars.

      Happened

      After the nuns leave, Holden starts "getting sorry" that he gave them only ten bucks.

    • Dick Slagle was Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep.

      Didn't happen

      Holden roomed with Dick Slagle at Elkton Hills, not at Pencey.

    • The nuns' cheap suitcases remind Holden of Dick Slagle's inexpensive luggage.

      Happened

      Holden says he hates it "when somebody has cheap suitcases" and then remembers Slagle's bags.

    • Holden goes directly to meet Sally after leaving the sandwich bar.

      Didn't happen

      The chapter ends with Holden still at the sandwich bar after the nuns go; he is to meet Sally "under the clock at the Biltmore at two o'clock."

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'bourgeois' mean when Dick Slagle keeps saying Holden's suitcases are "too new and bourgeois"?

    • Poor and shabby, worn out from years of hard use
    • Correct answer: Comfortably middle-class and too concerned with material things
    • Belonging to a noble family with an ancient title
    • Foreign and exotic, imported from a faraway country

    Bourgeois means typical of the comfortable middle class and its concern with possessions. Slagle called Holden's expensive suitcases "too new and bourgeois," and Holden says, "Even my fountain pen was bourgeois."

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14. 14

    Question 14. What does 'spendthrift' mean as Holden uses it about himself after counting his money in the cab?

    • Someone who saves every penny and refuses to spend
    • Someone who earns a great deal of money quickly
    • Correct answer: Someone who spends money freely and wastefully
    • Someone who lends money and charges excessive interest

    A spendthrift spends money freely and wastefully. Holden says he spent "a king's ransom in about two lousy weeks" and often forgets to pick up his change.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What does 'prejudiced' mean when Holden says Louis Shaney was not "prejudiced or anything"?

    • Shy and nervous around people one has never met before
    • Curious and eager to investigate other people's private lives
    • Correct answer: Holding an unfair opinion of people formed before knowing them
    • Deeply religious and strictly faithful to the rules of one's church

    Prejudiced means holding an unfair opinion of people formed in advance. Holden says Louis Shaney only wanted to know whether Holden was a Catholic, not that he was "prejudiced or anything."

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