The Hollow Men - questions and answers

The poem begins with two epigraphs:

First Epigraph: Mistah Kurtz—he dead.

The epigraph tells us that, in some sense, the poem is set after the death of Kurtz, or someone "hollow" man like him.

Second Epigraph: A penny for the Old Guy

The English celebrate Guy Fawkes Day every November 5th with fireworks and the burning of little straw men or “stuffed” effigies.

Hence, lines 1-4 symbolises the men’s hollowness or lack of essential qualities. Their existence is –literally- empty. their hollowness is a sign that they lack a soul and other essential qualities of being human. More profoundly, they are Elliot’s modern man, an empty, corrupt breed!

TYPICAL QUESTION: Is hollow passivity to life an evil? Why or why not?

NO typical answer: You have the right to your own opinion, but it should be well motivated.

MODEL answer: 1.1  What do you think “the Shadow”, line 76, 82, 90 symbolises in the context of this poem?       [2]

The hollow men have desires and are moved by their emotions, but never act on them – this could be evil in that people who stand by or do nothing when evil happens, are also guilty of letting evil happen, of not trying to prevent it.

Perhaps it is more evil to allow evil by turning a blind eye than to commit it – especially if one persuades oneself that one is not guilty.

More Questions and answers:

Inertia – something which prevents the hollow men from taking an initiative/ OR cowardice – their failure to perform their will./

1.2  Explain your answer to 1.2 by referring to ONE of the verses which end in the line “Falls the Shadow”.                                                                                                               [2]

CAN EXPLAIN ANY OF THE THREE VERSES:

“Between the idea     

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act”

The hollow men have an idea which they move toward,  “motion” but then do not complete it so the “reality” is that the “act” is prevented by the “Shadow” i.e they do not act on their ideas

“Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion                                                 

And the response”

As above – the hollow men are unable to translate ideas “conception” into realities “creation” or to act on their strong feelings, “”emotion” and so they do nothing.

“Between the desire

And the spasm                                                                       

Between the potency

And the existence

Between the essence

And the descent”

Although the hollow men would like to do something – “desire” they do not have the power “potency” to act on their desires and so fall into doing nothing.

1.3  How do the words in italics in lines: 77, 83 and 91, emphasise the indecisiveness of the hollow men?                                                                                                                   [2]

The words in italics are incomplete statements; unrelated to what goes before or after they are therefore meaningless [despite their inherent meaning in the allusion to God], like the lives of the hollow men, who miss meaning in everything.

1.4  This section begins and ends to the tune of a children’s nursery rhyme, “Here we go round the mulberry bush”. Does this imply that the hollow men see life as a game, or that they are childish, or do you have another explanation? Explain.                                                        [2]

A game would require some engagement, so they are childish in the sense of not taking responsibility for their lives// OR they are neither childish nor playing games, but rather engaged in meaninglessness that takes them nowhere – round in circles.//