Hollow Men Religion Essay

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As glimpses of a hopeful relationship between man and God stay persistent through World War I, T.S. Eliot reveals that the hollow men are inevitably ruined of hope and religion due to the men’s incredulous and post apocalyptic view of the world after the war. It is clear that Eliot incorporates paradox to extend the shallow viewpoints of the hollow men throughout their journey in limbo. It is here that Eliot suggests that a “Headpiece filled with straw” is a feeble symbol of a crown and it is antithetical because straw is light and frail and holds no absolute power (6). In reality, the headpiece is worth just as much as the hollow men: nothing. When the speaker considers “Shape without form, shade without color… gesture without motion” he develops a sense of doubt between man and God (13-14). The hollow men of post WWI consider religion to be an erroneous action between man and God because God has abandoned the soldiers, or the hollow men. …show more content…

Clearly, the “Sunlight on a broken column” imitates the hope of heathen men hungry for a relationship with God while also realizing that hope will be hard to muster after so many failed attempts of being religious (25). In this sense, the “broken column” implies that the hollow men yearn for a forged relationship with God due to the devastations that they have seen throughout WWI. Through the imagery of the broken column, Eliot proves that the men are doomed of having any sense of religion. Commonly, the “broken jaw” symbolizes the inability to communicate with God in his “lost kingdoms” due to the failed connection between man and God (58). Because of the tempestuous relationship that man and God share, the hollow men are confused about how much help religion can provide through a time of

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