Juxtaposition In The Hollow Men

The reader can relate to this cat’s name because, in general, people have an identity they keep themselves and a side they don’t want others to see. Therefore one can agree on Eliot’s representation of these multiple personalities because one holds different personalities that rely on where they are and who they are with.
The poem, “The Hollow Men” uses many different examples of symbolism. Eliot speaks of “death's other kingdom” (line 16) and “death's dream kingdom” (line 32). The “dream kingdom” symbolizes Heaven, and the “other kingdom” symbolizes Hell. This juxtaposition is evidently part of their despair because the men cannot achieve the positive dream, so they are sentenced to go to the other place of everlasting torture. He describes Heaven with, “a tree swinging/ And voices… / In the wind's singing” (lines 26-28) Heaven seems enlightening and beautiful but cannot be attained, so hope is lost because Heaven is “More distant and more solemn/ Than a fading star” (lines 29-30). Furthermore, the fading star mentioned in these lines …show more content…
In the second stanza, he says “We are the hollow men/ We are the stuffed men” (lines 2-3) and repeats again in the following stanza “the hollow men/ The stuffed men” (lines 18-19) to emphasize how empty these men that are represented feel. Eliot uses, “death’s other kingdom” (line 48) twice and “death's dream kingdom” (line 32) twice as well. As explained earlier, both kingdoms refer to Heaven and Hell. This constant reiteration shows the worry of where the men will end up in the afterlife. The poem concludes with an italicized repetition of “This is the way the world ends/ This is the way the world ends/ This is the way the world ends” (lines 97-99). This repetition highlights the following line “Not with a bang but a whimper” (line 100) which shows the disappointment of Eliot with how the world ends so unexpectedly quick and dark in place of