The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Phoebe repeatedly warn Holden about in Chapter 22?

   • That he should apologize to his teachers
   • That he will never get into college
   • Correct answer: That their father is going to kill him
   • That their mother will send him to military school

   Phoebe keeps telling Holden 'Daddy's going to kill you' after learning he has been expelled from Pencey Prep, expressing genuine alarm about the consequences.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What challenging question does Phoebe ask Holden that he struggles to answer?

   • What he plans to tell their parents
   • Correct answer: To name one thing he truly likes
   • Whether he has any friends at Pencey
   • Whether he failed every single subject again

   Phoebe challenges Holden to name one thing he likes a lot. He has trouble concentrating, and when he finally says he likes Allie and likes sitting there talking with her, Phoebe brushes both answers aside.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Whom does Holden think about when Phoebe tells him to name one thing he likes?

   • Correct answer: The two nuns and James Castle
   • Jane Gallagher and Sally Hayes
   • Stradlater and Ackley
   • Mr. Antolini and Mr. Spencer

   Holden says he can't concentrate: all he can think of are the two nuns he saw at breakfast, collecting money in their beat-up straw baskets, and James Castle, a quiet boy at Elkton Hills who once borrowed his turtleneck sweater. Out loud, he tells Phoebe he likes Allie.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What is Phoebe's blunt response when Holden says he likes Allie?

   • 'Daddy'll kill you.'
   • 'You never talk about him.'
   • 'You barely knew him.'
   • Correct answer: 'Allie's dead.'

   Phoebe answers with the plain fact that Allie is dead and complains that Holden always says that. Holden insists he knows Allie is dead but can still like him, since Allie was about a thousand times nicer than the people he knows who are alive.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Holden describe as his ideal occupation?

   • A teacher who helps struggling students
   • Correct answer: The catcher in the rye
   • A farmer who grows rye in a field
   • A writer like his brother D.B.

   Holden describes his fantasy of standing at the edge of a cliff near a field of rye, catching children before they fall off -- the 'catcher in the rye.'

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6. 6

   Question 6. What is the source of the words Holden uses for his catcher in the rye fantasy?

   • Correct answer: A song he knows, which Phoebe says is really a poem by Robert Burns
   • Advice the old Pencey graduate gave him and Stradlater on Veterans' Day
   • A line from a book Mr. Antolini taught in his English class at Elkton Hills
   • A story Phoebe wrote about Hazel Weatherfield and mailed to him at Pencey

   Holden asks Phoebe if she knows the song "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye," and she tells him it is a poem by Robert Burns.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How does Holden misquote the Robert Burns poem?

   • He says 'find' instead of 'lose'
   • He says 'save' instead of 'meet'
   • Correct answer: He says 'catch' instead of 'meet'
   • He says 'hold' instead of 'kiss'

   The actual line is 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye' — Holden puts 'catch' where the poem has 'meet', turning a line about one body meeting another into his picture of catching kids before they go over the cliff.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Who corrects Holden's misquote of the Burns poem?

   • Mr. Spencer
   • Mr. Antolini
   • D.B.
   • Correct answer: Phoebe

   Phoebe corrects Holden: the line is 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye' and it is a poem by Robert Burns. Holden admits she was right but goes on describing his picture of the catcher in the rye anyway.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does the cliff in Holden's fantasy symbolize?

   • The distance between Holden and his family
   • Academic failure and expulsion
   • Correct answer: The boundary between childhood and adulthood
   • The danger of physical violence

   In Holden's picture the field of rye holds thousands of little kids and "nobody big, I mean—except me," and he catches them before they go over the cliff, so the cliff is usually read as the edge where childhood ends and adulthood begins.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of the following events actually occur in Chapter 22?

    • Phoebe asks Holden to name one thing he likes.

      Happened

      Phoebe tells Holden he doesn't like anything and challenges him to name one thing.

    • Holden tells Phoebe about his catcher in the rye fantasy.

      Happened

      Holden tells Phoebe he pictures thousands of little kids playing in a big field of rye, with himself on the edge of a cliff catching anyone who starts to go over.

    • Holden leaves Phoebe's room to phone Mr. Antolini, his former English teacher.

      Happened

      At the end of the chapter he goes out to the living room and calls Mr. Antolini, his English teacher at Elkton Hills, who now teaches English at N.Y.U.

    • Phoebe corrects Holden's misquote of the Burns poem.

      Happened

      When Holden asks about the song 'If a body catch a body,' Phoebe tells him it is 'If a body meet a body' and that it is a poem by Robert Burns.

    • Holden leaves the apartment and wanders the streets.

      Didn't happen

      Holden stays in the apartment; he leaves Phoebe's room only to make a phone call from the living room.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these details are accurately described from Chapter 22?

    • Phoebe says 'Allie's dead' when Holden mentions liking Allie.

      Happened

      When Holden says he likes Allie, Phoebe answers that Allie is dead and complains that he always says that.

    • Holden says he wants to be a writer like D.B.

      Didn't happen

      Holden never says he wants to be a writer; Phoebe suggests a scientist or a lawyer like their father, and he turns both down before describing the catcher in the rye.

    • Holden thinks of the nuns when trying to name what he likes.

      Happened

      Holden says all he can think of are the two nuns he saw at breakfast, collecting money in their beat-up straw baskets, and James Castle.

    • Phoebe encourages Holden to run away from home.

      Didn't happen

      Phoebe does not encourage him; she scoffs at his ranch plan, saying he can't even ride a horse, and keeps warning that their father will kill him.

    • Holden describes children playing in a field of rye near a cliff.

      Happened

      Holden pictures thousands of little kids playing a game in a big field of rye while he stands on the edge of a cliff to catch them.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'ostracizing' mean when Holden comes back and Phoebe will not look at him?

    • Correct answer: Deliberately excluding someone and refusing to acknowledge them
    • Mocking someone openly in front of other people
    • Forgiving someone quickly after a serious quarrel
    • Scolding someone sharply for a foolish or careless mistake

    To ostracize someone is to shut them out. When Holden comes back, Phoebe won't look at him and turns her face the other way; as he puts it, "She was ostracizing the hell out of me."

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'incognito' mean when Holden describes the headmaster sitting in the back of Mr. Spencer's class?

    • Unable to say what one means in plain words
    • Unaware of or not paying attention to what is going on
    • Behaving rudely toward a teacher or a boss
    • Correct answer: Concealing one's identity so as not to be recognized

    Incognito means with one's identity hidden. Holden says Thurmer, the headmaster, would sit in the back of Mr. Spencer's history class as if he were incognito, then start interrupting "to crack a lot of corny jokes."

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14. 14

    Question 14. What are 'foils' when Holden compares Phoebe's silent treatment to the fencing team's at Pencey?

    • Thin sheets of metal used for wrapping and storing food
    • Correct answer: Light, flexible swords used in the sport of fencing
    • Characters who contrast with the main character of a story
    • Protective masks worn over the face during a match

    Foils are the light, blunt-tipped swords used in fencing. Holden says Phoebe was shutting him out just like the fencing team at Pencey when he left all the foils on the subway.

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