The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 19 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Where do Holden and Carl Luce meet in Chapter 19?

   • Correct answer: The Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel
   • The Lavender Room at the Edmont Hotel
   • A diner near Grand Central Station
   • Ernie's jazz club in Greenwich Village

   Holden and Carl Luce meet at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel. Holden gets there early, has a couple of Scotch and sodas, and watches what he calls the phonies while he waits for Luce.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What was Carl Luce's role at the Whooton School?

   • Holden's roommate
   • Holden's English teacher
   • Correct answer: Holden's Student Adviser
   • Captain of the fencing team

   Carl Luce was Holden's Student Adviser at the Whooton School. He was three years older than Holden and was known for holding informal 'sex talks' with younger boys in his dorm.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Holden do that annoys Carl Luce throughout their conversation?

   • He refuses to order any drinks
   • He repeatedly boasts that he can handle more alcohol than Luce
   • He keeps criticizing Luce's girlfriend
   • Correct answer: He persistently asks juvenile questions about Luce's sex life

   Holden repeatedly asks intrusive, juvenile questions about Luce's sex life and his older Chinese girlfriend. Luce tells Holden his mind is immature and that this always happens when they get together.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Who is Carl Luce currently dating in Chapter 19?

   • A classmate of his from Columbia University
   • Correct answer: An older woman from Shanghai who is a sculptress
   • Sally Hayes's roommate
   • The same girl he used to go around with at Whooton

   Carl Luce is dating an older woman from Shanghai who is a sculptress. He discusses the relationship with casual sophistication, contrasting sharply with Holden's juvenile curiosity about it.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Holden admit about his own sex life in Chapter 19?

   • That he has had many successful relationships
   • Correct answer: That his sex life is 'lousy' and he can't be intimate with a girl unless he cares about her
   • That he is not interested in girls at all
   • That he prefers to keep his relationships casual and uncommitted

   Holden admits his sex life is 'lousy' and reveals that he has difficulty being intimate with a girl unless he truly cares about her -- one of his most vulnerable and revealing admissions in the novel.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Carl Luce suggest Holden should do?

   • Correct answer: See a psychoanalyst
   • Go back to Pencey Prep and apologize
   • Transfer to Columbia University
   • Call his parents immediately

   Luce reminds Holden that he told him the last time they met what he needs, and Holden asks if he means a psychoanalyst; Luce's father is one. Luce says it is up to Holden, and that if he is interested he can call his father and make an appointment.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Holden ask Luce to do just before Luce leaves?

   • Stay longer and help him telephone Jane Gallagher
   • Give him his father's telephone number for an appointment
   • Introduce him to the sculptress from Shanghai
   • Correct answer: Have just one more drink, because he is lonesome

   As Luce gets up to go, Holden begs him to have just one more drink and says he is lonesome as hell. Luce says he can't, because he is late now, and leaves.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Why does Holden stand up when he orders his first drinks at the Wicker Bar?

   • So he can see the piano and the entertainers over the crowd
   • So the bartender will recognize him immediately and serve him first
   • Correct answer: So they can see how tall he is and not think he is a minor
   • So he can watch the entrance and recognize Luce arriving

   Holden gets to the bar early and orders a couple of Scotch and sodas standing up, so they can see how tall he is and not think he is a minor.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Who are Tina and Janine in Chapter 19?

   • Two girls Holden tries to dance with at the bar
   • Carl Luce's classmates from Columbia University
   • Correct answer: Two French women who perform piano and singing acts at the Wicker Bar
   • Waitresses employed by the Seton Hotel

   Tina and Janine are two French women at the Wicker Bar: one plays the piano, which Holden calls strictly lousy, and the other, Janine, whispers into the microphone and then sings. Holden says their songs drive all the phonies in the place mad with joy.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does Luce say his father, a psychoanalyst, would help Holden recognize?

    • Correct answer: The patterns of his mind
    • The value of Eastern philosophy
    • The phonies surrounding him
    • The defects of his character

    Luce says his father wouldn't do anything to Holden but talk with him, and would help him recognize the patterns of his mind. Then Luce says he is not giving an elementary course in psychoanalysis.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of the following events actually happen in Chapter 19?

    • Holden meets Carl Luce at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel.

      Happened

      The Wicker Bar is in the Seton Hotel; Holden gets there early and has a couple of Scotch and sodas before Luce shows up.

    • Holden asks Carl Luce juvenile questions about his sex life.

      Happened

      Holden keeps asking about Luce's sex life, and Luce asks him when he is going to grow up.

    • Carl Luce stays for several hours and gets drunk with Holden.

      Didn't happen

      Luce says at once that he can only stay a couple of minutes, and he leaves when Holden asks him to have one more drink.

    • Holden admits his sex life is 'lousy' and he needs to care about a girl to be intimate.

      Happened

      Holden says his sex life is lousy and that he has to like a girl a lot, or he loses his desire for her.

    • Carl Luce suggests Holden see a psychoanalyst.

      Happened

      Luce reminds Holden that he told him last time what he needs, and Holden asks if he means a psychoanalyst; Luce's father is one.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these statements about Chapter 19 are true?

    • Carl Luce was Holden's Student Adviser at the Whooton School.

      Happened

      Holden says Luce was supposed to be his Student Adviser at Whooton, though all he ever did was give sex talks late at night.

    • Holden enjoys the performances by Tina and Janine at the Wicker Bar.

      Didn't happen

      Holden says the piano playing was strictly lousy and that Janine's songs drove all the phonies in the place mad with joy.

    • Luce's father is a psychoanalyst.

      Happened

      Holden says Luce's father was a psychoanalyst, and Luce tells Holden he can call him and make an appointment.

    • Luce greets Holden warmly and says he can stay all evening.

      Didn't happen

      Luce never says hello; the first thing he says is that he can only stay a couple of minutes because he has a date.

    • Holden asks Luce whether his father ever psychoanalyzed him.

      Happened

      Just before Luce leaves, Holden asks whether his father ever psychoanalyzed him; Luce says not exactly, though his father has helped him adjust himself to a certain extent.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'inane' mean when Luce asks, 'Must we go on with this inane conversation?'

    • Confidential and too personal to discuss in public
    • Correct answer: Silly and empty, lacking any sense or real meaning
    • Deeply thoughtful and full of hidden significance
    • Natural and inborn, present in a person from birth

    Inane means silly and empty of sense. Luce calls the conversation inane when Holden keeps pressing him about why sex is supposedly better in the East.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What does 'aristocratic' mean when the man next to Holden keeps telling the girl he is with that she has aristocratic hands?

    • Belonging to a system where the people elect their leaders
    • Calloused and weathered from years of physical labor
    • Unusually skilled at playing a musical instrument
    • Correct answer: Elegant and refined, like a member of the noble upper class

    Aristocratic means belonging to, or looking like, the noble upper class: elegant and refined. Holden says it killed him that the man kept flattering the girl he was with by telling her she had aristocratic hands.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What does 'sophisticated' mean when Holden says the Wicker Bar is supposed to be very sophisticated?

    • Crowded, noisy, and run without any care or order
    • Simple and plain, with no refinement or polish at all
    • Correct answer: Worldly and refined, with polished, fashionable tastes
    • Deliberately misleading through clever but false arguments

    Sophisticated means worldly and refined, with polished tastes. Holden says the Wicker Bar is one of those places that are supposed to be very sophisticated, but to him it is full of phonies.

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