In Defense of Ackley
When we are first introduced to Ackley, Holden frames him as a complete slob who he despises, faulting him for the most minor details. This comes during a time in the book where we have not met anyone who Holden directly claims to like, so we are expected to consider Ackley as just another inferior person Holden has to deal with, but instead Ackley is made out to seem even worse than the rest of the people Holden knows: he is constantly ridiculed for his lousy hygiene, described as having a “terrible personality,” and is generally described as annoying and intrusive. Holden, as a result of this all, claims to not be “too crazy about [Ackley],” and seems to be genuine in saying so (19). We end up not helping but to dislike Ackley too, as Holden is constantly making us laugh at or despise him, such as how Ackley was “ exactly the kind of guy that wouldn’t get out of your light when you asked him to,” which is ironic as we see Holden do the same exact thing with Stradlater just a few mome...