The ruined, grassgrown fort is an image of conquest, but past conquest, on its way to being subsumed by nature. It is a fitting metaphor as this novel of conquest turns to its greatest thematic struggle: the attempt to overthrow conquest itself, and achieve a world devoid of conquering dream-ideals. The struggle, which occupies the remainder of Part Three, will be expressed through the person of Nostromo, who represents the common man struggling for class parity, and in a sense all mankind struggling to escape the tragic burden of history and politics.