This is a cleverly written passage whose meaning is exactly the reverse of its seeming one. On the surface, Charles Gould comes across as a dedicated idealist for justice, who dislikes having to express his heroism in words. An alert reader should be surprised by this, however, since the previous chapters illustrated his complete breach with ideals. And the alert reader would be right: Charles Gould is not speaking from an idealistic standpoint at all here.

Observe the subtle blurring of the phrase "Gould Concession," which at the beginning of the paragraph seemingly referred to the system of corruption (which "could not be resumed"), and here refers to the ideal. Taken together and read literally, we realize that it is precisely the quest for abstract justice which cannot be resumed -- that the ideal was in fact the corruption. The image of the heavens falling illustrates not the strength of the ideal, but its unmourned death. Note the subtle past tense in which the Concession "was" symbolic of justice, and Gould's tone of voice "had for many years" concealed the anger and contempt of an idealistic view. Neither is true any more. What Gould is left with, what he takes a mystic view of, is no longer the ideal of justice but "his right," i.e., his right as a powerful individual to use that power as he sees fit without regard for social good. This is why he is disgusted by the fact that his words sound "too much like heroics": they are in fact the opposite.

The "profound discord" between practicality and fanatic stubbornness has also been expressed symbolically throughout the novel by the conflict over his nationality -- English or Costaguanero.