and begins to tell us why he doesn't like him. 

Even without looking up, I knew right away who it was. It was Robert Ackley, this guy that roomed right next to me... He was probably the only guy in the whole dorm, besides me, that wasn't down at the game. He hardly ever went anywhere, He was a very peculiar guy... He was one of those very, very tall, round-shouldered guys-he was about six four- with lousy teeth. I wasn't too crazy about him, to tell you the truth.

This quote is quite interesting, because at the beginning of chapter 3, Holden tells us that he is a great liar, so to end this with "to tell you the truth" is pretty funny. Ackley probably reminded Holden of all the things he didn't like about himself. Ackley didn't go out much, like Holden. Ackley had a way of coming into Holden's room and touching his things, which Holden hated. The whole thing was that Holden was losing his reality and Ackley was a reminder of that.

There are certain aspects of Holden's personality that are very OCD or ADD, although these ailments would not be addressed until much later in time, somewhere around the 1960's. Holden mentions that not only is Ackley a slob, but so is Stradlater. Lots of teenagers are slobs and this is very common for a teenager to be a slob, however, Holden hates this quality in Ackley. Ackley does not seem to brush his teeth, pick up after himself and clips his toenails on the table. In the end, Holden is sickened by his behavior and this causes severe disklike, however, Holden deep down feels sorry for Ackley because Ackely is much like Holden himself, and cannot fit into society.

Robert Ackley gets on Holden's nerves, much like just about everyone else Holden encounters.  Ackley has awful teeth, which he never brushes, lots of pimples, and a lousy personality, according to Holden.  Holden also hates the fact that Ackley  comes into his room and picks up things that belong to him and his roommate, Ward Stradlater.

Check the link below for more information on this and the other characters in this book.  Good luck!

Ackley is Holden's next-door neighbor in the dorm. Ackley is a senior and Holden is a junior, but Holden seems to look out for Ackley as if he were younger. For example, Holden's buddy, Brossard, invites him to the movies and Holden asks if Ackley can come as well. Of Ackley, Holden says the following:

"The reason I asked was because Ackley never did anything on Saturday night, except stay in his room and squeeze his pimples or something. Mal said he didn't mind but that he wasn't too crazy about the idea. He didn't like Ackley much" (36).

Ackley has bad hygiene and is socially awkward, so not many people do like him. Holden doesn't like the fact that Ackley doesn't brush his teeth and that he cuts his toenails without picking them up, but that doesn't mean Holden wishes for him to be alone on a Saturday night. Holden seems to look after Ackley because he feels sorry for him.

Ackley, on the other hand, hates Stradlater, Holden's roommate, but he doesn't hate Holden. He feels comfortable enough to go into Holden's room and just start talking to him about anything. In fact, he asks Holden for some scissors, and when Holden gets hit on the head with a racket while searching for them, Ackley can't stop laughing at Holden's misfortune. It would seem, then, that Ackley feels comfortable hanging out with Holden even if they wouldn't necessarily call each other friends. Since the story is written from Holden's perspective, we can't know for sure how Ackley feels about him. All we can do is infer that Ackley likes him based on the fact that he hangs out with Holden and clearly hates Stradlater.

"Holden's unpleasant dormmate, whose personal habits are dirty and whose room stinks. Holden suspects that Ackley does not brush his teeth and describes them as mossy. Cursed with acne, Ackley constantly picks at the sores. Ackley dislikes Stadlater, calling him a "son of a bitch." Holden finds Ackley disgusting but appears to feel sorry for him at the same time."

Holden's dorm neighbor, Robert Ackley, is the type of person who suffers from poor hygiene.  He doesn't brush his teeth properly, he is always clipping his nails and leaving his clipped nails in other peoples rooms.  He has terrible skin and is very nosey.  I think that Holden dislikes Ackley's nosey behavior the most, he is sympathetic to the guy, but he can't stand it when Ackley walks around his room and touches everything. 

"He started cleaning his fingernails with the end of a match.  He was always cleaning his fingernails.  It was funny in a way.  His teeth were always mossy-looking, and his ears were always dirty as hell, but he was always cleaning his fingernails.  I guess he thought that made him a very neat guy." (Salinger) 

Ackley tends to barge into Holden's room without being invited.

"Hi I said, but I didn't look up from my book.  With a guy like Ackley, if you looked up from your book you were a goner.  You were a goner anyway, but not as quick if you didn't look up right away.  He started walking around the room, very slow and all, the way he always did, picking up your personal stuff off your desk and chiffonier.  He always picked up your personal stuff and looked at it.  Boy, could he get on your nerves sometimes." (Salinger)   

If you were to ask the character Holden Caulfield why he was angry with Ackley in that particular moment, he would no doubt make a stab at Ackley's phoniness. However, the rage Holden feels in this particular moment is from many different sources and is, in many ways, aimless.

Holden rudely wakes Ackley up in the middle of the night and asks him about joining a monastery. He ends the thought by saying he'd probably join the wrong kind anyway, the kind with all the "stupid bastards." Ackley is angered by this attack on his religion, and his sudden display of annoyance sparks Holden's directionless angst.

In truth, Holden is angry with Stradlater, who just returned from a date with Jane. Holden had been on a double-date with Stradlater before, and was disturbed by his behavior. He could hear Stradlater attempting to coerce his date while she begged him to stop. His anger comes from imagining Jane in the same situation.

In Chapter 7 of The Catcher in the Rye, conflict ensues when Ackley refuses to allow Holden to sleep in Ely's bed. Since it is well-known that Ely typically returns to campus on Sunday evening, Ackley's claim about being unsure of when Ely will return is an obvious lie. Holden is offended by Ackley's refusal to tell the truth, as well as his lack of hospitality; they are indications of the phoniness Holden constantly denounces. Although he is annoyed by Ackley, his anger is primarily directed at Stradlater, who has just returned from a date with Jane. Since Stradlater's frequent sexual conquests and disrespect for women are well known, Holden fears that Jane's honor has been compromised; thus, he first directs his rage towards Stradlater, retreating to Ackley's room only after losing the physical confrontation. Ironically, after chastising his friend for displaying poor manners, Holden demonstrates his own typically inconsiderate behavior by insulting Ackley and interrupting his sleep multiple times.

Holden does not say whether or not he likes Ackley. His description of Ackley is not complimentary, but they seek each other out because they are both outsiders in the school community. Holden seems to understand that Ackley has developed his cynical, caustic, negative attitude because he has no friends at school and is probably unwanted at home. Expensive boarding schools are often places where parents send children to get rid of them. The fathers are involved with making money and the mothers with social activities. They rationalize their rejection by telling themselves that the schools must be great places for education and character-building because they are so expensive and because the ads in the slick, upper-class magazines make the schools look so attractive. Holden can empathize with Ackley. They are both unwanted children. Holden has a similar hostile attitude toward the school and the other students. No matter how expensive or exclusive a boarding school may be, it is not a home but an institution.

Holden is at a very low point in his life when he seeks out Ackley in Chapter 7. He has just had a fight with Stradlater, and seeks out Ackley for comfort. Ackley, however, is only interested in what the fight was about, and will not give Holden permission to sleep in his roommate Ely's bed, even though Ely is always gone for the entire weekend anyway. Holden is "annoyed" at Ackley's insistence that he "can't just tell somebody they can sleep in (Ely's)...bed," and he feels "so lonesome, all of a sudden...(he) almost wish(es) (he) was dead." His depression is extreme at this point, and he has nowhere else to go, which is the real reason Holden is so wounded by Ackley's lack of hospitality.

It is ironic that Holden is so offended by Ackley's behavior. Ackley, like Holden, is a social outcast, and Holden, along with everyone else, is not very nice to him. In Chapter 3, when the tables were turned, and Ackley wandered into Holden's room just to hang out, Holden showed his irritation at Ackley's presence, treating him with rudeness and sarcasm. Even when Holden, in need of company, comes into Ackley's room after his fight with Stradlater in Chapter 7, he treats him with contempt after his initial civil overture. Although he at first asks nicely if Ackley would like to play "a little Canasta," when he is turned down, Holden thinks in his mind that Ackley is "even more stupid than Stradlater," and when he is denied permission to sleep in Ely's bed, he makes a comment deriding Ackley's hygiene, complaining,

"This room stinks...I can smell your socks from way over here. Don'tcha ever send them to the laundry?"

Holden hates phoniness in others, but in many ways, and especially in his relationship with Ackley, he is just as hypocritical as everyone else. He is indeed wounded by Ackley's lack of hospitality, but has proven himself no better than Ackely when he is the one who has the opportunity to be hospitable.