W. H Auden: The Unknown Citizen

The marble monument erected by the nation or towns flock is usu ally of a hometown hero. The person is al roughly always someone who did well up for the arena and originated from a certain town. The statue is al to the highest degree never of someone who is vindicatory an ordinary world living life just like everyone else al almost him. This man is the cast citizen one who never causes a stir, goes to war when asked, and does everything to help oneself the common good. He is a conformist, a person whom the goernment holds highschool and promotes for others to strive toward becoming.The monument covers everything from his job record to his health history, all document parts of his life, showing the reader exactly what the State is concerned with. look at the poems structure, use of laborious, and the style we see that the man is celebrated because he served the Greater Community (Auden 5) in everything he did and never questioned the government. The narrative structure of t he poem represents a speech by the local representative. The statue unaccompanied has a reference number JS/07/M/378 because to the government the port is more key the man himself.While the speaker calls this man, in the juvenile sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint (4), he only knows this because of the research prior to the event. The representative decides to talk about how the man performed all t he correct tasks throughout his life. The sound out hardly c atomic number 18s whether or not the man was popular with his mates and liked a bedevil (13) so long as he wasnt a scab or odd in his views (9). It is also important to note that he held the prissy opinions for the time of year (23) than if he was free and elated (28).The use of sound reveals that the Unknown Citizen lived an ordinary life. The speaker consistently uses a simple rhyme scheme- Our report on his Union shows it was sound/ And our Social Psychology workers prime (11-12) to show the mans existe nce. The reader learns that the citizen was fully insured (16) and that he was once in hospital barely left it cured (17). The circumstance that the rhyme scheme is hardly tampered with suggests that the citizens life was consistently regular and ordinary.The most signifi lott use of sound comes at the end of the poem, when the speaker asks, Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd (28). Here, the speaker reinforces the states office over the individual and dismisses any notion that happiness and freedom are part of the states plan. It also forces the reader to acknowledge the states total control over its citizens and how the mans passive life was led according to the governments will, not his own.Looking at the style and the use of language in The Unknown Citizen it reveals that the man served the state in every aspect of his life and was rewarded to show other raft the benefit of doing the same. The poem states that there was no official complaint (2) against this mod el man and it goes so far as to saying he was a saint (4). The speaker describes more of the mans qualities in order to show the people what a model citizen should be like. Thus, he explains that the man never got fired, / but satisfied his employers (7-8) and paid his dues (10) on time.By doing this, the citizen had everything necessary to the Modern Man, / a phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. (20-21). The man even had the state in mind when he had a family of five children, for he had the near number for a parent of his generation according to the governments Eugenist (26). For those citizens who may go doubted whether the mans existence was an ideal one, the speaker explains that questioning whether or not the citizen was happy is absurd (28) because only the mans servitude to the state is important.The overall theme of the poem can be viewed as a symbol as a whole, as it is a symbol of how the government treats conformists versus individuals. A symbol can be found i n the line Our researchers into Public Opinion are contented / That he held the proper opinions for the time of year (22-23). Public Opinion, which is capitalized, is very important to the State, as they feel if they can control opinion, they can control people, because most people will just go with the flow. It is through these subtle symbols that Auden is open to reveal how he feels about conforming to government xpectations, as most writers stray from conform. Yet despite the states assurances, the Unknown Citizens monument is still sanctified to a reference number instead of an actual name. Being a model citizen does not amount to much in a country where ones freedom and liberty are nonexistent and ones entire life is plan by the state. Indeed, the mans inscription illustrates this point To JS/07/M/378 / This Marble Monument is Erected by the State follows the familiar rhyme scheme that marked the mans passive life.