Part One of the novel was about Unification, the force that pulls political entities
together, as illustrated by the "Imperium" of the San Tomé
mine. Part Two is about the opposite process: Separation, the force that pulls
political entities apart. The Isabels symbolize individuals, isolated in the "Placid
Gulf" which stands for the uncrossable space between souls. This subjective
isolation, Nostromo argues, is the fundamental cause leading to the fragmentation
of societies. Starting from the triumphant Unionism that ended Part One, Part
Two will eventually boil down to Nostromo and Decoud, alone in the darkness of
the Gulf, apart from the rest of the world and finally from each other -- the
ultimate atomization.