The valley of ashes and T.S. Elliot's The Hollow Men

Compare the "valley of ashes," described at the beginning of chapter 2 in The Great Gatsby, with Part 3 of T.S. Eliot's  poem, The Hollow Men. Include evidence from the text

The valley of ashes from The Great Gatsby and T.S. Elliot's The Hollow Men describe many of the same images and give an overwhelming feel of misery, loneliness, and helplessness. "This is the dead land, This is the cactus land" from the poem and Nick Caraway's description of the shambled town compliment one another. In the book, the valley of ashes is described as "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens." By reading this, I got a feeling of loneliness and nothingness, or at least nothing there but ash and soot. The same goes for The Hollow Men. The only thing that is visible in this macabre battlefield is death, and the only form of greenery or other life are cactus plants. "Under the twinkle of a fading star" from the poem, explains the pitiful and helpless state that the soldiers are in. In Gatsby, the line on page 23: "... of men who move dimly and already crumbling in the powdery air.", shows that the people of the valley of ashes are simply rotting away, and the last thing that they will see is the smokey, "powdery air" that drifts about them eternally.