Frequently in the novel Nostromo is referred to as a "man" in some superlative or meaningful sense. Contrast, for example, his innocently egotistic claim that he is "a man" , and the later frown of discontent that makes him a "man" in the narrator's eyes. The very name Nostromo is based on nostro uomo, "our man." The references reinforce the sense of Nostromo as the prototypical common man: the People.