e a rhythmic one, two, one two, and then, “Falls the Shadow” equals 3. Between the (1)And the (2)Between the (1)And the (2)Falls the Shadow (3, or the punch).The “Shadow” is a kind of gray nothingness representative of the fear and emptiness in the hollow men and in humankind. Finally, to add to the confusion, pieces of the Lord’s Prayer appear. As if the reader is supposed to fill in the blanks, the prayer is written,For Thine isLife isFor Thine is the (lines 91-93).The final lines are a powerful childlike chant,This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper (lines 95-98).“The Hollow Men,” rich in allusions ends a hollow abstraction. This ending seems fitting because it mirrors the hollow men, who themselves have reached the edge of the “tumid river” and are whispering (thus the whimper) broken prayer (Spurr). The last and most powerful line is, perhaps, a daring prediction of the fate of the world and human kind. Eliot presents a dreary picture of his generation and of mankind. The poem can be construed to mean a variety of things, however, the one inevitable factor is the inescapable existence of emptiness in the poem. However, it contains a brief glimpse of hope in the “perpetual star” thus, man may have a chance to achieve a brighter future. ...
