Paul Whitehorn, verbomassive as he is, has made an important point: Whether Bix transgressed sexually with a five-year-old girl and was exiled from Davenport for it; or worse, was unjustly accused and banished anyway - either way he thereafter lived under a cloud. His family had something with which they could always shame him. The power of a sidelong glance, the threat of ostracism, is an incalculably powerful modifier of behavior and self-image. In view of that, Bix's drive towards "respectable" employment, (i.e., Whiteman) seems all the more understandable. Bix's self-loathing and suicidal drinking also make more sense in this light. It seems clear that Bix's destiny as a person, and as a musician, was cruelly shaped by this incident.