The Shadow (of the poem's meaning)

I feel that I am so close, yet so far. Here is my (pitiful) interpretation of each section. Good effort?

Section 1:
The speaker introduces two groups: The Stuffed Men and the Hollow men. These two groups lead lives of meaninglessness and hopelessness. They lean together, support each other, because they are frightened.

Section 2:
The Hollow Men are too ashamed to face and take responsibility for their mistakes. what they’ve done and stand behind their actions.

Section 3:
The speaker explains that where they are is void of life; hence the mention of cactus, a plant that grows in the lifeless of lands. These men cannot form prayer.

Section 4:
The hollow men are stuck in limbo (emptiness, where they do not want to beg God for redemption, but do not want to go to hell). They can only hope for God's forgiveness as the apocalypse approaches.

Section 5:
The hollow men still cannot complete their prayers.

Eliot suggests that the world will end pitifully. There will not be a great climactic ending. The world will end and that would be that, the final whimper.




In class we've learned that Eliot is a disillusioned man. He lost hope in humanity when he realizes that man's faith in God has faltered greatly (1925 - during WWI).

I still don't know what the Shadow is.