The lighter, which has represented the last plank of unifying society, has gone under, and the People are alone in the gulf of human isolation. Decoud's plan of "Separation" has reached its ultimate thematic moment. The dawn is breaking behind the mountains, signalling the birth of new unifying dream-ideals to come, but it is "clouded," suggesting their inherently illusory nature, and "gloomy," suggesting perhaps the nature of the new ideals. For in Nostromo swimming for the shore I see an image of the People passing through trial to a new class-consciousness and tragic ambition. He has "turned his head." And we are reminded of the line that closed Part One, referring ahead to this incident: "He has never been the same man since."