The Palace Thief

Abba Roth, the protagonist of “Accountant,” styles himself as disciplined, cautious and, above all, practical. He conducts his business affairs in “a neutral suit and striped tie, on the supposition that overgrooming was superior to under” (52) and even wears his Oxford brogues in his own home. He seems to lack even an iota of impulsivity, although his choosing to marry Scheherazade over the more practical LeAnne shows an irrational component to his nature.

This does not mean, however, that Roth never had goals beyond financial stability. While he spends his life working to gain respect in the paternalistic, hierarchical structure of the Priebe, Emond & Farmer accounting firm, he harbors a secret dream of being a lowly paid music professor. He appears to have no interest in the money he makes, content to let his wife and his favorite of their children, Naomi, spend it frivolously. It becomes clear that his approach to life is simply what he thought he needed to do, not what he wanted to do. In the end, he feels remorse because the part of him that has an “impulse for uproar and disorder” (61) did not make a sufficient impact on his life.