Hollow Men By Eliot Essay, Research Paper

In T.S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot contrasts his straw-filled

hollow men with the "lost violent souls" of Mr. Kurtz and Guy Fawkes.

Mr. Kurtz is a character in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. T.S. Eliot is

saying that it is better to have met death and to have strong opinions than to

sit idly and remain stagnant. Both Eliot and Conrad are portraying the general

society to be decaying. The hollow mean are in a state of stagnation. They can

neither choose life nor death and are therefore damned to a life where they will

waste away to nothing. The hollow men are said to live in a gray, bleak

wasteland full of cactus. This idea contrasts with Conrad’s use of symbolism in

Heart of Darkness. Joseph Conrad portrays images of stark white and black.

Joseph Conrad is saying that there were only extremes being the civilized and

the uncivilized. Mr. Kurtz was trying to be a go-between for the civilized and

the uncivilized societies of England and Africa. Mr. Kurtz became depressed and

essentially devolved. In this sense, Conrad is saying that there is no middle

road. In The Hollow Men, the straw men are unable to choose which direction they

will take and wait for a sign. The settings for the two works is different as

well. In Heart of Darkness the setting is the Congo. The surroundings are lush

overgrowth of trees and other plants. There is water everywhere, especially

depicted by the river. In The Hollow Men, the setting is a bleak desert full of

only scarecrows and cactus. There are references to eyes in both works. The

direct eyes are said to be guide. Mr. Kurtz had burning eyes which symbolized

how the horror of his actions eventually killed him. In The Hollow Men, the eyes

are eyes of decision and direction that the straw men lack and do not wish to

see. Joseph Conrad portrays that there is evil inherent in everybody. The

Manager was the epitomy of evil and yet he survived. Mr. Kurtz became savage.

T.S. Eliot says that it is better to be one of these characters than to be a

straw man who believes that "this is they way the world ends/Not with a

bang but a whimper."