I definitely understand the 'state of mind' thing, now that I'm a grown-up and did my fair share of time with the upper-east side set in high-school, but back then and for years after, I wanted to shoot everyone who even dared to suggest that Holden Caufield was anything less than a sniveling idiot! Then again, this is probably one of the few books that I can admit to having read too early (before I was 12), so maybe it was just me.

I'm glad you didn't take offence to my question because I should have couched my question better -I think I've been hanging around Nemo's contentious self too long to have decorum when asking people about their character's motivation *g*

Your insight about Ahab and 'Moby Dick' is really really interesting, I never thought about that in a Lindsey-centric way, but you've got me hooked...