Charles Gould is the allegory of materialism to such an extent that a narrative
qualification is needed when speaking of his emotions. Note that the agent of
these (so-called) emotions is not his father as such, but his father's death.
Observe also how many times the words "death," "dead," "dead
man's" and "departed" occur in this paragraph. A strong theme in
Nostromo is that materialism represents ultimately the inanimate world,
not the needs of the living. Behind the psychological relationship of Charles
Gould with his father, then, this paragraph portrays the allegorical relationship
of materialism with death.