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.