He was retaliating for the way he was treated as a child (earlier, he had said: "I was my parents"" number one son, but they treated me like number two").Claggett is victimized by Kent""s professional cohorts, knocked out, and dragged from the room: "You were bluffin"" and you were called." But hen, he again agrees to sacrifice and sidetrack his personal dreams as a victim of circumstance.He sits staring blankly ahead, positioned in his room in front of his aquarium tank (while observing its occupants) and wanting to be alone with his thoughts.I tell her Santa Claus is a myth, and you bring her down here, and she sees hundreds of gullible children, meets a very convincing old man with real whiskers.