Power
Political power is front and center in the narrative. Who has it? What wants it? What will those have power do to protect it? What will those who power do to get it? The story takes place in a fictional country called Costaguana and the political structure there is a tangled web of competing loyalties between foreign invaders who all view the indigenous population as if they are the intruders. The discovery of wealth, greed, and the lengths some will go to protect that wealth (not to mention determine how that wealth will be used) all come into play in this thematic schematic.
Corruption
The very opening pages situate Nostromo as being incorruptible. He’s one in a thousand; dependable and loyal. Not too much later, however, a completely different portrait of Nostromo arrives as he is described as a traitorous, cowardly scoundrel. The rest of the novel is highly concerned with arriving at a proper estimation of just where Nostromo really fits within the spectrum of corruption.
Lies
The narrative structure of Nostromo can make it a difficult read for those preferring simple linear chronologies. The structural presentation of events out of order creates a timeline that takes work to understand, but is absolutely essential thematically. Essentially, there are two stories being told here. One is the public record of Nostromo that many believe as makes the man and the myth interchangeable. The other story is the secret history of Nostromo that reveals the public record is one composed of many lies. Conrad’s writing style is omniscient to the maximum, meaning that he is willing to shift in and out of other people’s consciousness not just within a single chapter, but within a single scene and even on occasion within a single paragraph. So what is meant by “lies” being a theme of the book is not necessarily synonymous with purposeful “untruths.” In this case, the reader often gets two or more conflicting “truths” from the perspective of two or more people and must determine for himself which is the real truth and which is the lie.
