Throughout the novel, from Gould's father to Pedro Montero to Nostromo, we see the enslaving power of the silver, which symbolizes the dream-ideal: tempting, corrupting and ultimately inescapable. Charles Gould is perhaps the greatest slave to the silver of all, and in this case we see that his ideal of justice is forcing him into literal corruption. Like Sir John's railway at the top of the mountain, the only apparent way out is forward through degradation to success.