The downtrodden peasants of the Campo are described as having "mute eyes" in Chapter 1-7 , implying that they are powerless to do anything but observe and accept the political events periodically sweeping over them. The Sierra, on the other hand, symbolizes in the novel the Ideal that inspires those political passions, but which itself is described as "a colossal embodiment of silence." In other words, both extremes are "mute witnesses." Conrad's "first vision" of Costaguana thus contains its entire tragic scope, in which men's passions are ignited by dark, uncaring ideals to fall upon the powerless, suffering underclass.