Deepening subjectivity takes hold as the characters find themselves partially
immersed in the dark water of the Placid Gulf, and the language of Conrad's metaphor
becomes explicit. Note that the endangered lighter, representing the last platform
of society, provides literally the only knowledge that they have in common, as
if without it they would be unable to communicate at all. Indeed, speech has already
disappeared. The knowledge that the lighter is sinking is "the crucial test
of their desires" because it tests whether the desire will survive in a state
of utter isolated subjectivity. Decoud's will not.