There is a political level to this, since the town is held by Monterists, but the political aspect is overwhelmed by Decoud's failing sanity, so that it reads as an indiscriminate aversion for all people, who appear as illusory creatures. There is thus another level in which he is resolved not to "give himself up" to the social illusion. Compare his thought in the lighter, "Better perish a thousand times than owe your preservation to such people."