Being confined to the same cell as Cecil wasn't the ideal way of making up for lost years. Cecil liked to criticize Bob for what he perceived as a need to show off, and that many of his plans had been needlessly complex. Cecil viewed these flaws as what had truly ruined Bob's plans, not a pair of obnoxious children.
At one point, having had quite enough of this, Bob snapped, "Is it wrong to devote energy into what I do?"
Bob had said exactly the same thing to a high school classmate who had criticized the way he played Dorian Gray in the drama club's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Some might have called Bob's acting overdone and "hammy", but he was only trying to make up for the bland performances of his classmates.
Bob truly pitied those who suffered from such apathy and laziness that they, to use the more vulgar term, half-assed everything they did. He also pitied people like his brother, those who were all pragmatism, and no passion. If the Terwilligers were characters on television, Bob knew he would be considered the more interesting one.