An interesting throwaway phrase by Decoud. The conquistadors, of course, were
Unionists (indeed, empire builders), and Viola's inn is named after national unity.
Moreover, this "conquistador farmer" resembles an ancestral version
of Viola himself, who was a soldier and farmer in his turn. The sea in Nostromo
being a symbol of Liberty, a "pearl fishery" suggests the attempt
to harvest something beautiful from the libertarian impulse in man, another reference
to Viola. But this house, "contrived" out of the optimism of unifying
Liberty, is now "perfectly silent," reflecting the demise of those ideals.