Chapter 20 Quiz — The Catcher in the Rye

Where is Holden at the beginning of Chapter 20?

• At the Edmont Hotel bar
• At the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel, extremely drunk
• At a diner near Central Park
• At Grand Central Station waiting for a train

What does Holden pretend while drunk at the bar?

• That he is a college student on holiday
• That he has been shot in the gut, like a character in a movie
• That he is waiting for a friend who is about to arrive
• That he is a famous writer being interviewed

Who does Holden call on the phone while drunk?

• Jane Gallagher
• His sister Phoebe
• Sally Hayes
• His brother D.B.

What does Holden do in the men's room of the Wicker Bar?

• He gets into a fight with another patron
• He dunks his head in a basin of cold water to try to sober up
• He calls his parents from a pay phone
• He changes his clothes before going outside

What happens to the record Holden bought for Phoebe?

• He gives it to the hat-check girl at the bar
• He leaves it on the park bench by accident
• He drops it and it shatters, but he saves the broken pieces in his pocket
• He throws it away because he is too drunk to carry it

What does Holden find when he reaches the Central Park lagoon?

• The ducks are there swimming in the partly frozen water
• A park worker who explains where the ducks have gone
• The lagoon is frozen and the ducks are gone
• A group of people ice skating on the lagoon

Why was Holden not present at Allie's funeral?

• He was away at boarding school and could not travel home in time
• He was in the hospital after breaking all the garage windows with his bare fists
• His parents decided he was too young to attend
• He refused to go because he could not accept Allie's death

What detail about Allie's funeral torments Holden the most?

• That very few people attended the service
• That his parents argued during the ceremony
• That it rained and everyone ran to their cars, but Allie had to stay in the cemetery
• That Allie's grave was in a section far from the rest of the family

What decision does Holden make at the end of Chapter 20?

• To check himself into a hospital for pneumonia
• To go back to Pencey Prep and apologize
• To sneak home to see Phoebe while his parents are asleep
• To call his parents and confess that he has been expelled

What motivates Holden to finally go home?

• He runs out of money and has nowhere else to go
• Thinking about Allie's death reminds him of Phoebe, and he does not want her to lose him too
• Sally Hayes tells him on the phone to go home
• A police officer finds him in the park and tells him to leave

Which of the following events actually happen in Chapter 20?

Which of these statements about Holden's thoughts and memories in Chapter 20 are true?

What does 'morbid' mean in the context of Holden's thoughts about death and funerals?

• Extremely cheerful and optimistic, even in difficult situations
• Characterized by an unhealthy preoccupation with death, disease, or other disturbing subjects
• Confused and disoriented due to intoxication
• Physically exhausted from prolonged exertion

What does 'displacement' mean in the context of the ducks and Holden?

• The amount of water pushed aside by an object submerged in it
• A feeling of being moved from one's usual place; not belonging or having no fixed home
• The act of replacing one person with another in a social role
• A mathematical calculation of distance between two points

What does 'irrevocable' mean as it applies to the broken record and Allie's death?

• Capable of being repaired or restored with effort
• Not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered; final and permanent
• Temporarily misplaced but eventually recoverable
• Deliberately destroyed as an act of rebellion