Maybe I’m off base, but I imagine Quentin as being a bit cowardly and weak. And not just physically- though I do imagine him as physically small and frail – but mentally, too. He’s hanging onto some odd ideas about how he thinks people should behave but he has no idea how people really behave. Doesn’t occur to him a father would think he was trying to kidnap the girl, or get punched. Harvard has been a waste of his $