Comparing T.S. Elliot's "The Hollow Men," with "The Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad
The poem by T.S. Elliot, The Hollow Men and The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad embody apathy and indifference. Both Conrads Station Manager and Elliots hollow men present a profound intellectual and emotional lack of interest or concern as well as being devoid of distinguishable humanity. The two texts highlight the grave characteristics of both the station manger and the hollow men by embellishing the details of their vacant eyes as well as deaths other kingdom, of which they both inhabit, their indefinite characteristics and their hollowness.
The station manager is every man in that none of his features stand out from the norm. In the fact that he is generic in every way, he embodies the benign face of evil. His inherent ambiguities such as his smile not a smile, as well as making the commonest phrase appear absolutely inscrutable, incapable of being investigated, analysed, or scrutinized. It is clear that his only absolute is ambiguity as Marlow goes on to describe him with paradoxes, He originated nothingbut he was great, and he was neither civil nor uncivil. In a similar fashion the hollow men are quiet and meaningless, embodying shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, and gesture without motion. Neither portrayal of either character has any distinguishable traits of humanity, indifferent to everyone and anyone.
The hollowness of both characters typifies their lack of humanity, containing neither heart nor soul, which are commonly associated with humanity. Marlow considers whether there was nothing within him (the station manger), and notes that his smile had been a door opening into a darkness he had in his keeping. It is also the station managers belief that men who come out here should have no entrails, further evidence of his emptiness. The men in T.S. Elliots poem are the hollow menthe stuffed menheadpiece filled with straw. In the same way that the station manager is evidenced as having no human entrails, the hollow men have
The station manager is every man in that none of his features stand out from the norm. In the fact that he is generic in every way, he embodies the benign face of evil. His inherent ambiguities such as his smile not a smile, as well as making the commonest phrase appear absolutely inscrutable, incapable of being investigated, analysed, or scrutinized. It is clear that his only absolute is ambiguity as Marlow goes on to describe him with paradoxes, He originated nothingbut he was great, and he was neither civil nor uncivil. In a similar fashion the hollow men are quiet and meaningless, embodying shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, and gesture without motion. Neither portrayal of either character has any distinguishable traits of humanity, indifferent to everyone and anyone.
The hollowness of both characters typifies their lack of humanity, containing neither heart nor soul, which are commonly associated with humanity. Marlow considers whether there was nothing within him (the station manger), and notes that his smile had been a door opening into a darkness he had in his keeping. It is also the station managers belief that men who come out here should have no entrails, further evidence of his emptiness. The men in T.S. Elliots poem are the hollow menthe stuffed menheadpiece filled with straw. In the same way that the station manager is evidenced as having no human entrails, the hollow men have
Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot