Where is Holden at the start of the story?

• A. At Pencey Prep
• B. In a coffee shop
• C. In a mental institution or hospital recovery program
• D. In New York City

Answer: (C)

Holden is speaking from a mental institution or hospital recovery program, and that framing is the heart of this item. The opening of the book places him in a hospital setting as he looks back on the events that led to his breakdown, so the story is being told as a memory from a place of treatment. This setup signals to you that what follows is filtered through a narrator who is recovering and reflecting, which affects how we hear his judgments and remember details.

The other locations don’t fit the opening frame. Pencey Prep is where Holden was expelled from earlier in the timeline, and the story isn’t starting there. A coffee shop or New York City appear as settings later in the sequence of events, not as the starting point from which the narrative unfolds.