1. What is the progression from Parts I to V?
The narrator, himself one of the hollow men, begins by establishing what they are; “the hollow
men… the stuffed men,” who are shells of beings that are described as “[s]hape without form,
shade without color.” They are within some sort of limbo or “Ante-Hell” waiting and watching
those who are not hollow, those who have “direct eyes,” pass into the afterlife, or “death’s other
Kingdom.” Moving on, the hollow man describes his and the other hollow men’s inability to
access the afterlife even in “[s]uch deliberate disguises” like that of a scarecrow. They are simply
relegated to this liminal and barren space known as “the dead land” or the “cactus land.” There is
no hope for them, as there “are no eyes” in the “hollow valley.” By the end, since the hollow
men are unable to pass into the afterlife, they must watch how their own inaction and inability to
make something of themselves in life - which is characterized by the “shadow” - becomes the
downfall of humanity and is the reason the world will end “[n]ot with a bang but a whimper.”
2. What are the "eyes"?
The “eyes” are all of those who took action or had some purpose in life, whether it be good or
bad. Those are the ones who are able to pass into “death’s other Kingdom,” as their souls can
actually be weighed whereas the souls of the hollow men are weightless due to their inaction.
They are eyes because they can see the various paths in life that one can take, but the hollow men
are “sightless” because they are blind to all that comes before them. There “are no eyes” in the
“hollow valley” because they have been able to move on and see their way into the afterlife.
3. Is the "kingdom" real or imagined?
The kingdom itself may not be a real thing, but rather is a symbol. The “[m]ultifoliate rose/Of
death’s twilight kingdom” is the desire, hope, and dream of the hollow men who wish to have the
satisfaction of an afterlife, but as they are spiritually paralyzed and blind due to their passivity
they are locked out of the kingdom.
4. What is the "broken column"?
The broken column is a visual representation of the hollow men. A column is used to hold up
and support a structure, but a broken column can not fulfill its purpose. The broken column is
meant to represent the antithesis of the hollow men. The hollow men, like the broken column,
have no purpose, as they are just like “[s]hape without form, shade without color.” The “eyes”
are “[s]unlight on a broken column” because they illuminate how meaningless the hollow men
are in comparison to their meaningful lives.
5. Why does Eliot use the diction "cactus" and "stone" in Part III?
The diction of the “cactus” and “stone” evoke the imagery of a barren wasteland or desert. Eliot
puts an emphasis on how void these hollow men are of any sense of purpose or meaning by
placing them in a physically void and desolate space. It is something like a desert which is quite
literally a “dead land” where not many things can grow and life doesn’t thrive just as the hollow
men’s lives are fruitless.
6. What is the "shadow" in Part V?
The “shadow” is the quintessential indicator of determining if one is a hollow man or not. The
shadow is the moment, the judge, the deciding factor of what to make of one’s life. It is
“[b]between the idea/And the reality” or “the conception/And the creation.” It is the choices one
makes in life if they chose to live a life. It is the outline of one’s soul if they chose to have one.
How can one have a shadow if they are merely “[s]hape without form,” like that of the hollow
men.
7. Against what does Eliot juxtapose the Lord's Prayer in Part V and why?
Eliot juxtaposes the Lord’s Prayer with the phrase: “Life is very long.” The Lord’s Prayer asks
for God to forgive our sins and tempt us not with evil, and to keep us on a righteous path so that
one may live a righteous and holy life, void of sin. Eliot juxtaposes this with “[l]ife is very long”
to imply that there is a lot of time to stray from that path of righteousness and to sin. One can
recite the Lord’s Prayer many times in their life, but life is still so long that one could forget their
religious duties. But this is not to condemn believers who have strayed from the path. By
claiming that life is long, it demonstrates that even through all this time, with all these
possibilities to choose to do something in life whether it be righteous or not, the hollow men still
do nothing which makes them so detestable.
8. What are we to make of the conclusion?
Eliot claims that it is due to the hollow men, it is due to their passivity and inaction that the
world will end. It will not be some great heroic ordeal or some truly evil and sinister plot because
it will end “[n]ot with a bang but a whimper.” It is those who stand idly by and watch as the
world unfolds that will make its end.
