Carel Bou Maroun
Friday, September 25, 2015

Reading Response #1
The Unknown Citizen – W.H. Auden (Pages 106-107)

The satiric poem “The Unknown Citizen” caught my attention because W.H. Auden denounces our modern society.

First of all, the title of the poem reminds us of Unknown Soldiers’ monuments that exist in many countries. Soldiers are usually remembered for their brave actions but their names are often forgotten and fade away. So, Auden ironically suggests that the “unknown” citizen also deserves a monument because he conforms to government’s rules, and only his actions will persist in archives “This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State”. Auden is satiric against modern governments who only want citizens to obey their norms.

Secondly, the unknown citizen is only given a number “To JS/07M378”. The institutions see citizens as numbers in modern society; no citizen has a name in the eye of governments. Moreover, the unknown citizen has no longer his own personality. He lost it by being a slave to the government’s criteria. He sacrifices his own personality by conforming to the government and its norms “For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.”

Thirdly, by saying “When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went”, Auden suggests that the unknown citizen has no opinion. His ideas are those that conform to accepted ideas. He doesn’t stand for himself and doesn’t say what he thinks. He goes along with the flow and isn’t different. He doesn’t give his personal view on anything nor share his thoughts.

Finally, the narrator tells us everything the unknown citizen has done during his life and it seems that he never did something wrong, he is “perfect” in the eye of the government and this is also a reason he is called “Unknown”. Auden said he was a saint but he didn’t mean the religious definition; the unknown citizen is a “saint” because he serves the government and does everything institutions want him to do. So, “Unknown” also means ordinary. Auden ends his poem with two questions “Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd”. I think the citizen he is talking about doesn’t know what real freedom and happiness are and thinks he is already free and happy by following government’s rules and norms. We can also say that no numbers can answer these two important questions. The government judges him as free and happy because according to the rules, he is a perfect example of what a good citizen is.

Lastly, I found this poem very interesting because it’s a perfect example of our modern-day world and society.