... which in turn created a "hollow" and "stuffed" persona. "Alas!" They are now slowly beginning to understand the severity that these immediate satisfactions will have on their eternity. They stand waiting in a "dead...cactus land" with "dry grass," in their "dry cellar," with their "dried voices." The macabre tone in which Eliot repeats the word "dry" helps to create the image of desolation in both the setting and the souls of the hollow men. These "dried voices" demonstrate the despair of the hollow men because their whispered words have become "quiet and meaningless." They "grope together and avoid speech," because they are now aware that their words no longer effect what seems to be an inescapable rendezvous with Death. This devastation reveals an even more convincing reality when Eliot contrasts the hollow men's voices with the voices of those who have achieved divine fulfillment in "death's other kingdom," where they ...

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