Catcher Questions for Socratic Seminar and Short Answer Essay Test

Hello Juniors!

Here are the Level 2 and Level 3 questions that you wrote in class.  They are wonderful topics of discussion and analyzing.  Please use your book, your dialectic journals, and your activities to discuss these ideas in depth. 

Please make sure to cite specific text and page numbers in both discussion and when written.  There are no right and wrong answers - so what makes your answer correct is that you answer with evidence, insight, and textual examples. Not all of these questions will appear on the Short Answer Essay Test - but all topics and questions are open for discussion.

Your test will be Open Note - so please make sure to take notes during Socratic Seminar.
Good Luck to you.  (Holden wouldn't like a send off like "good luck" - he would say it is phony.Why?) - this should be your first question!  ; )

Samakosky

LEVEL TWO

1.       Why does Holden have such an obsession with the ducks at the pond?  What is the symbolism?

2.       Why does Holden feel the need to act in a way that isolates him from the rest of his peers?

3.       What does Holden’s red hat represent throughout the novel?

4.       What is the meaning of “The Catcher in the Rye”?

5.       Why did Holden go to his house? Allie’s grave?

6.        What does the phrase “If a body catch a body coming through the rye” (P.115) symbolize?

7.       At the museum, Holden reflects on his childhood?  What is the importance of this reflection?

8.       How does Holden describe the world and the people he knows?  Provide examples?

9.       Why dos Holden feel like it is necessary for him to cover/conceal himself when he dies?

10.   Why does Holden feel the need to pray to God if he says “I’m sort of an antheist.”

LEVEL THREE

1.        Is depression and isolation a common cultural theme of the teenager? Is this true to life?

2.       How do Holden’s actions/emotions relate to Salinger and his own story?

3.       Is the relationship between Phoebe and Holden an accurate representation of modern day sibling relations?

4.       Does Holden’s life in the 1950’s still affect teenagers in 2015?

5.       Is it okay for Salinger to express how he feels through Holden or is he just a phony as well?

6.       Can movies/books/media influence one’s decisions and thought process?

7.       Do you think that kids/teens have a good morals and values at heart?