The Unknown Citizen
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The Average Man
W. H. Auden satirizes the United States as an entity, which restrains individual advancement. Through depersonalization, the government rewards those who actually never do anything. However, the “Unknown Citizen” has a monument built as a symbol of his perfection. Thus, Audens “The Unknown Citizen” shows how the government makes each individual merely a number unless they do not conform to societys norms.
The monument of the “unknown citizen” is erected not to honor the memory of a man, but to show how he is the perfect example of a good citizen (Auden). In this poem, the citizen is just an average person who never stands out among the rest of the population. For example, “Yet he wasnt a scab or odd in his views,” (Auden 9) illustrates how he holds the same opinions as the majority. Scabs were workers who would not go on strike or work for lower wages, which caused them to be despised by their fellow workers. This negative view of the scabs was the popular during the age of America industrialism.
Auden uses a sarcastic tone to state that all citizens should follow the governments accepted norms. Conformity is taught to everyone in the school system. There, the youth learn societys expectations for their behavior. “And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education,” (Auden 27) illustrates how this man allowed the government to choose what his children should learn. In essence, his children are brainwashed with his consent. He allowed the government to stifle all of their creativity in their quest for uniformity.
Throughout the poem, the government gathers many statistics about the citizen, but he still remains nameless. Through all these mediums, the government discovers that the citizen was a follower and went along with the crowd. The poem also suggests that the government controls everything with the use of the possessive word our in front of some phrases such as “our report” (Auden 11).
The poem creates the feeling of boredom because it is monotone and lacks excitement. For instance, Auden states that, “He worked in a factory and never got fired” (7). Auden ends the statement with a comma rather than an exclamation to illustrate the inconsequential nature of the citizen working in a factory. Factory work is monotonous, one shift after another not evoking any emotion. Indeed, the citizen lives a boring life, doing the exact same thing as the average person. He cannot stand out, for the only way to do so is for the citizen to be different, not fulfilling societys demands.
Throughout the poem, the citizens actions do not amount to anything but further conformity. For example, Auden states that “And all the reports on his conduct agree that, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint” (3-4) which illustrates how all his actions were normal according to the governments standards. The government considered his actions so good that they call him a saint. Therefore, Auden uses this tone to prove that living the life of the statistical, average citizen would be boring.
Courage defines a hero. The citizen Auden describes is a hero to the government because he never causes any problems. They even dedicate a statue to him, but he never acts courageously. He follows the crowd and never stands up for himself. A true hero leads as Abraham Lincoln did when he held the nation together during his Presidency. However,