The Catcher in the Rye

Another least favorite character of mine from the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger was Robert Ackley, the boy who lived in the dorm room across the hall from Holden Caulfield. A good portion of the book takes place at their school, Pency, so Ackley was around a lot of the time. I feel like Ackley was that friend that nobody likes, but is always around. He annoys Holden more than anything, but I do not think he honestly means to. The reason that he was one of my least favorite characters was because of the way that Holden described him. He sounds so disgusting! Holden was talking about how he was trying to read his book when Ackley burst in unannounced. He tended to do that a lot. Ackley then proceeded to rummage through all of the belongings that did not belong to him and pick his nasty nails. I could have thrown up when Holden was describing how Ackley had “crummy” nails and would pick and clean them in the middle of Holden’s room. I could not stop imagining grimy, dirty, disgusting hands with brown and yellow jagged nails. Holden definitely did not appreciate walking on the crusty remains that ended up on the floor. That is absolutely repulsive! I pride myself on manners and to hear this nasty kid being disgusting makes me want to go insane. My picture of Ackley is this: a big, dumb looking teenager who is very dirty all the time. Ackley is rude and sickening, and I seriously wanted to get sick at some of the parts of the book that involved him. If I were Holden, I would be so mad! He always barged in the room like he owned it! Holden also mentioned that Ackley failed to brush his teeth. Do I even have to say more. I guess I do not think that Ackley acted like this on purpose, but it is still more than unpleasant to read about.