This lovely paragraph serves mostly as a separating pause between Monygham and Nostromo. But as with all of the novel's descriptive passages, it carries a symbolic meaning as well. It is the last sunset we see before the birth of the modern Occidental Republic, and thus represents the death of the old order; it is also the sunset of Nostromo's old life, which is, allegorically, the old era in the political consciousness of the People. Both these events are heralded with a sense of "sombre magnificence," of grandeur tinged with violence and gloom. In particular the cloud "stained with blood" evokes political illusions and the carnage they cause. The Isabels suspended in the air represent individuals suspended and isolated in the void (the "great smoothness"); they are "purple-black" as if bruised; they are three, an immediate reference to Monygham, Nostromo and Sotillo in the drama to come. In Nostromo's symbolism clouds represent illusory ideals and the ocean represents ungovernable liberty, so this image strikes at the heart of the human condition: a mingling of fundamental license and illusory control that produces a "conflagration" of fire.