The Tone of Irony in The Unknown Citizen Essay - 1862 Words

â€Å"The Unknown Citizen,† a poem written by W.H. Auden, alludes to a time of great change in American history, where the poem is meant to mock the government’s viewpoint of the perfect role model for an unrealistic, impractical citizen. The author, W.H. Auden, writes and intends for the historical context of his poem to be in the late 1930’s, when America was going through the Great Depression. Citizens were losing a sense of nationalism for America and had begun to negatively view the government. During this time period, the government had also begun to distribute Social Security cards with personalized federal numbers to American citizens, which was the mark of depersonalization in America’s political system. As a result, the tone is one of†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Our Social Psychology workers found†¦,† from Line 12 demonstrates the citizen’s active social life. â€Å"Our researchers into Public Opinion†¦,† fr om Line 22 represents the citizen’s ideal public involvement and choice of activities such as going to war and having children. â€Å"Our Eugenist says†¦,† from Line 26 reflects the citizen’s supposedly correct number of children, according to the government. â€Å"Our teachers report†¦,† from Line 27 displays the citizen’s correct choice of avoiding interfering with American educational systems. â€Å"†¦we should certainly have heard,† from Line 29 represents the speaker him/herself, along with the American government and its early decision of assuming that if nothing else but the good was reported about the citizen, then the government would have heard otherwise. In all these lines, the speaker associates the describing of all aspects of the citizen’s life with his acquaintances from the government. The speaker is uniquely portrayed in this poem through certain qualities that he possesses: being observant and being de tached. All positive and only positive events that have occurred in the citizen’s live are recorded by the government; no negative events are to be found in his life. The speaker takes special note of the citizen’s military service (Line 6), perfect employment (Lines 7-8), Union participation (Lines 9-11), social life (Lines 12-13), newspaper customsShow MoreRelatedAudens The Unknown Citizen and Michies Dooley is a Traitor983 Words   |  4 Pagestypically involve tools of satire, such as symbolic characters, symbolism, and irony, to simplify the understanding of who this â€Å"satirical target† is. In â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W. H. Auden and James Michie’s â€Å"Dooley Is a Traitor,† symbolic characters, symbolism, and irony are all used to indirectly criticize the target of each satirical work. In â€Å"The Unknown Citizen,† Auden is criticizing the way average citizens live their daily life. In this satire, JS/07/M/378 is dead and is being praisedRead More Analysis of The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden Essay examples1464 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†, written by W.H. Auden during 1940, is a poem where the speaker, a representative of the state or government, directs a speech to the audience about a monument being erected for a citizen. Written in free verse, although using many couplets, this poem is a poem that describes the life of a certain person through his records and documents. This citizen is portrayed as a normal and average human being who is being honouredRead MoreThe Unknown Citizen by W.H.Auden1320 Words   |  5 PagesThe poem â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W.H. Auden is a poem with a strong message to a wide audience. It portrays a political system’s control over its citizen. The poem is telling us we are a product of our countries, we are nothing but a number of digits to be identified. The poem revolves around the life of the unknown citizen, JS/07/M/378, who was granted a monument by the government in honor of his flawless life in an un-free society. He is by all means the perfect citizen, the citizen who has devotedRead MoreThe Unknown Citizen Essay525 Words   |  3 PagesThe Unknown Citizen In The Unknown Citizen, Auden is implying that people are statistics and easily conformed to the normality of society. Throughout the poem, Auden portrays the character as being an all around normal citizen and one against whom there was no official complaint. In lines 4 and 5, the speaker describes the character as a saint and for in everything he did he served the Greater Community. He served in war, never got fired from his job, popular with his mates, andRead MoreThe Unknown Citizen Explication Essay999 Words   |  4 PagesWerner 05 March 2012 The Unknown Citizen By W. H. Auden Several conflicts are dramatized in The Unknown Citizen, the most prominent being: conformity of the middle class, government manipulation, and the loss of individualism to the standards of an average citizen. The speaker of this poem is non-traditional as the poem is, in fact, an inscription on a â€Å"marble monument erected by the State.† The inscription is dedicated to a â€Å"JS/07 M 378†Ã¢â‚¬â€presumably, â€Å"The Unknown Citizen,† although this term onlyRead More The Unknown CItizen by W.H. Auden Essay731 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"The Unknown Citizen†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W.H. Auden, is a commentary on government and the materialism of modern man. The poem is written in the form of an obituary inscribed on a monument built by the government in commemoration of an average, upstanding, and decent community member. Throughout the passage, the speaker lists facts about the citizen’s life which he believes prove that the deceased was a valuable person. In actuality these facts represent nothing more than the sociallyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Lottery 916 Words   |  4 Pagesthe fate of what will happen until the very end of the story. Although, Shirley Jackson does a good job of making people think, there are also some signs throughout the story that hint what is going to happen. In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism in the beginning of the story to show that death is impending in the end. The story is titled â€Å"The Lottery† so it makes the reader guess right away about what the essay is about. Although they never specifically tellRead MoreFahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury Essay1402 Words   |  6 Pagesforget the joy of reading. This story takes place in a future dystopian city, where any actions related to books are illegal. The novel’s protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman, whose job involves burning books for a living. Throughout the story, the citizens live their mundane lives, which includes watching parlor walls (television) and having minimal connections with their friends or family. In part three of the novel, Bradbury writes about Guy Montag and how he is on-the-run from the officials of theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Things They Carried 1409 Words   |  6 Pagessoldiers helps the reader relate to their situations. As well as the profanity shows the soldiers coping mechanisms when dealing with death. 2. The diction used throughout the novel by Tim O’Brien, reflects a higher education. O’Brien is a well-educated citizen in high social standing. O’Brien’s higher-level vocabulary and more complex thoughts reflect his intelligence. Through much consideration, O’Brien decided to go to war, as to not disappoint anyone or seem like a coward and embarrass himself. LtRead MoreEssay about The Red Badge of Courage1335 Words   |  6 Pageswar ends, but war in the heart of the people is hard to erase. The authors convey this through symbolism of the name of the novel in which the characterization of the main character take place, the first person point of view of the novels, the satire tone, and the deception of war. The Red Badge of Courage symbolizes the wound that Henry viewed it a symbol for courage. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.(81) ‘a badge of courage’ is a diction that the author creates, in