If the characters were "self-sacrificing" in their actions, they were, by definition, acting against their own self interest, in conflict with every long-winded

If the characters were "self-sacrificing" in their actions, they were, by definition, acting against their own self interest, in conflict with every long-winded ideological monologue in the book. Skipping directly to the "fuck off into the mountains to pass gold around in their utopian rich person land" would have been more in their own interest. No, their actions were taken out of self-interested spite. It was not enough to leave society, they needed to harm it on the way out.