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 moments later (21). Nonetheless, we leave that initial interaction siding with Holden, as who likes a guy that isn’t just nasty on the outside but also on the inside?    

But our perception of Holden’s relationship with Ackley comes into question when we see Holden consider who to go with to the movies later that day. We are introduced to a supposed friend of Holden’s, Brossard, and surprisingly we see Holden ask him if Ackley of all people could go with them. This act of kindness is followed up by another belittling of Ackley though, this time portraying Ackley as the type of guy to want to know who was rowing the boat if he was drowning. I interpreted Holden’s action as one out of pity, as perhaps this night he felt bad for the poor guy. But I was wrong, as Holden casually mentions that he has gone to the movies before with Ackley and Brossard, though he criticizes the both of them for their reactions during the movies. This revelation made me consider the possibility that perhaps Holden didn’t dislike Ackley as much as he made it seem like he did, and that what he said before was his attempt to make himself appear “cooler” than he really was, which is something we see more clearly as the book progresses. Or maybe the two were closer than it seemed, and this was just how their friendship manifested itself, in a toxic way. But I still held some doubt in my mind whether Holden did like the kid, as he had received an unusually large amount of criticism from Holden.

Ultimately, what made me really reconsider Holden’s relationship with Ackley was during his conversation with Phoebe, where he laments over joining a fraternity because he was “too yellow not to join [it],” and that they wouldn’t let Ackley join, just because he was “boring and pimply”(167). The fact that Holden used Ackley as a key example of why he disliked Pencey can be interpreted in two ways: either he pitied Ackley, or he genuinely liked him but wanted to hide it. But regardless of Holden’s outlook on Ackley, we can look back at the criticism Holden showed towards Ackley as a sign of Holden’s own phoniness and repeated instances of  hypocrisy, as he too was acting like the phonies that rejected Ackley for his appearance and character. Holden himself alludes to this, as he called himself “yellow” in joining the fraternity, and seemed to make no effort to defend Ackley, which he seems to regret. So while most of us may dismiss Ackley as a disgusting guy that no one could like, I feel like we should look past some of Holden’s criticisms, especially since Holden himself feels bad about them. Though Ackley still probably isn’t a great guy, I think he is at least better than Stradlater, as at least he seems to care somewhat about what Holden says (if not too much). I don’t think we should do this all out of pity though, as I think Ackley deserves a bit better than that. For all we know, he could be more normal than he seems, but his characteristics had just been blown out of proportion by Holden, who is not a stranger to exaggeration and lying.