The Hallow Men by T.S Elliot
Why are they afraid of looking at the 'eyes'? What do they think would happen if they were exposed to the eyes?
Over all Elliot's description of the Hallow men is to show a description of people who have opinions about the world but don't put their opinions across. Having this in mind the 'direct eyes' described in the first stanza of the poem could be seen as the eyes of the people who get their opinions across and control society. This can be interpreted as this because they are 'direct', they know exactly what they want to happen and what stop until they have done so. The fact that they are remembered 'only as the hallow men' also suggests that these 'eyes' have power as to them everyone else isn't important and has no effect on society. Due to this it could be interpreted that the Hallow Men are scared of the 'eyes' because they have such strong views. This could be something that they fear because it could end up changing what they think as its so influential on them and as their name suggests they are 'hallow', they are full people who are not open to change. As a Marxist critic this could then further be interpreted to be similar as the situation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the capitalist society. This is because the proletariat passively accept the society which the bourgeoisie have set up for them, in this poem they are the Hallow Men and the bourgeoisie are the 'eyes'. This then could link back to the fact that they are afraid of being exposed to the 'eyes' because they are apart of a capitalist society of being exploited and alienated by the bourgeoisie, so don't express their opinions for change and do this by staying out of contact with the bourgeoisie.
