Aumakua

This essay actually came from a question another member in a different forum brought up. He asked this, "Does Invisible Man seem to fit the description of hollow men, or is he an example of one who is not among the hollow men T.S. Eliot describes?"

Of course he gave the poem T. S. Eliot wrote and a passage from the 'Invisible Man'. I wrote this essay based on how i was taught in school... as if i was speaking directly to people ... sorry if it's not that good >.<


First paragraph: Introduction
Second paragraph: Talking about both T. S. Eliot and Ralph Ellison
Third paragraph: Focusing only on T. S. Eliot
Fourth paragraph: Focusing only on Ralph Ellison
Fifth paragraph: Conclusion


*~**~**~*~

“Shape without form, shade without color, Paralyzed force, gesture without motion;” T. S. Eliot, ‘The Hollow Men’ Beautiful quote, from an exceptional poem. Ah but what is the real meaning behind it? Surely such an exceptional piece of work would have a meaning. Correct you are; it does. The poem, describes hollow men, as T. S. Eliot had perceived them. You may ask, hollow men? I agree; it’s a vast subject that would take far too long to dive into deeply. But, I will bring up another very interesting passage. ''I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." Ralph Ellison, ‘Invisible Man’. Confused? Don’t be. Taking a deep glance at them both you might find a connection between them. I myself, do not. As I see it, hollow men and invisible men are of two different categories. Why yes they are both men who are yet to be noticed, but of different reasons. Those same reasons is what leads me to believe they are not as closely related as one would think. By definition, would hollow and invisible stand the same ground? Check any dictionary, they do not. But we aren’t looking at this from that view, I just thought it was another argument to suit my feelings.

"Gathered on the beach of [a] tumid river" The poem speaks out. Do you know what this is referring to? T. S. Eliot is describing Hell. And now we reach our first journey on the difference between what T. S. Eliot wrote and what Ralph Ellison had wrote. ‘Hollow Men’ are said to be the ones looking down at the living. Dead, yet their spirits pathetically linger about. This is unlike Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man’ where that man is living but still is unseen from the world for various reasons. Is this enough to reach a conclusion? I think not. T. S. Eliot described men who lost all hope within themselves, they are ‘stuffed’. You may wonder, what does he mean by this? The poem speaks out! These men cannot enter Heaven, yet they are exempt from Hell. So they linger, in-between. They have no emotions inside of them, as they lost all hope and reason. They didn’t even bother to try to regain themselves, which shows they are truly pathetic. These ‘Hollow Men’ watch over the living with empty eyes but have now lost their chance at everything. This is unlike an ‘Invisible Man’, where he has hope and a reason to live, but is not seen by anyone. Could he be hiding away? Maybe. The passage itself describes not if he has hidden himself, or if the world refuses to see him.

Were you looking for a quote this time? Oh I’m terribly sorry. T. S. Eliot knew what he was writing about and felt it very deeply. His form of poetry is one that is hard to challenge, if it can be challenged at all. While his poem for the most part speaks of ‘Hollow Men’, it does also give reference to various other things. Can you guess them, hmm? He incorporates into his poems historical events that have taken place. For example, “Not with a bang but a whimper”. In this line T. S. Eliot speaks of “Guy Fawkes, who intended to light the gunpowder to bring down Parliament and assassinate King James I. He was caught, tortured and executed on the gallows.” (Wikipedia direct quote) I’m sure you didn’t figure that one out now did you? If only one line was translated to that, imagine what the whole poem stands for. T. S. Eliot also spoke of his time, and his thoughts on it. For example, “Here we go round the prickly pear, Prickly pear prickly pear, Here we go round the prickly pear, At five o’clock in the morning.” In this poetic quote T. S. Eliot is referring to his view on Western culture, as he viewed them as worshipers of false Gods. But this only begins to explain this poem; it would take far too long, if not forever, to deeply explain every small aspect of this poem.

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." Ah you may ask why I have quoted this again? Simply because we have finally reached Ralph Ellison’s work. Gathering the knowledge you currently have gotten, take another glance at this quote. Does it seem the same as before? I bet you’re seeing it in a new way. The reason this is titled ‘Invisible Man’ is because it mainly speaks of an African American that considers himself ‘invisible’ to society. Going back into history not far off ago, you will see that technically that’s true. As it says in the quote “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids” By this saying alone you know that he cannot be of the dead; he must be of the living. ''I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms.” Now he says this to inform others that he is not non-existent, or a ghost of some sort. He wanted to grab the readers’ attention and allow them to understand who he was. Of course he does this without letting on much of himself. “And I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” This is the last line of the small passage I quoted before you. It notes that he ‘might even be said to possess a mind’, in that line alone again it leans you towards a human. A living person who is invisible to society not because he chose so, but rather because those other living humans see him not as a human. Which was the basic outlook on African Americans during that time period sadly.

Tying them bother together, or rather, explaining their differences one last time. In the previous paragraphs you got a deeper understanding of the two writers. On one hand we have T. S. Eliot who writes about ‘Hollow Men’. As you have figured out he speaks mainly about those ‘unable to cross into hell’; also making reference to events in history and his view on Western culture. On another hand we have Ralph Ellison, whose story tells of the viewpoint of an unnamed African American during a time period where they were looked down upon and thought of as in human. That is why his book was titled, ‘Invisible Man.’ Do you see any connections between the two? I’d say nothing but the fact that both these writers had amazing skills and exceptional writings that swayed their readers immensely.

nomadicrhymer

Wow, you did a lot of research there, and made it REALLY interesting as well...I loved the conversational style of it, so that definitely worked. No time now to comment on content.

Nomad