The allegorical dialogue continues. Having attacked the two 'parents' of idealism in turn, patriotism and religion, Decoud now turns his skeptical argument to the ultimate figure: Nostromo, the People. The unspoken question is, "Without patriotism or religion, what role would idealism have for mankind?" In Nostromo, Decoud argues a view of the happy life in which idealism is concentrated upon one's own person, rather than any larger-than-self crusade. Antonia finds the idea distasteful; she obviously prefers a "higher" aspiration. This annoys Decoud, since in his view "the heroes of the world" -- i.e., the leaders of the "higher" crusades such as patriotism and religion -- act from Nostromo's very motives. But Decoud quickly admits that while they do, he doesn't -- he is not "a man of that sort," which is why he considers himself "ordinary" -- and in a flash switches to the antipode of self-absorption: the absorption in another person that is love.

This -- the doctrine of concentrating idealism upon the unique value of another personality, finding the "higher-than-self" purpose in another self -- finally melts Antonia's resistance. It is a crucial moment in Antonia's development: later she gives voice to this doctrine in one of the novel's key lines, its clearest statement that individual character is the true treasure of the world.