People often have trouble clearly stating their obscure emotions and ideas; therefore they associate and realize these ideas through other literature, cinematography, or music. In his dream-like "The Hollow Men" T. S. Eliot uses allusion as a vehicle for his purpose. The purpose seems elusive to the author himself. Therefore, he employs a reference to classic literature to show his reader a glimpse of what he really means through a more explicit analysis the human …showed first 75 words of 1556 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1556 total…influenced by the society's expectations. An allusion to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness gives Eliot a wide base for analysis as Conrad provides an extensive explanation of the human consciousness and subconsciousness, as well as a man's descent into his true self. With the use of the novel and some of its rhetoric Eliot is able to compare the two states of man and the rift between ideology and practice and address his war-generated emotions.