W.H. Auden in his poem "The Unknown Citizen" tackles an immediate problem of contemporary life. In this satirical poem he laughs at the attitude of an ordinary citizen in a totalitarian state. The decline of the status of the individual has made him a cog in the machine. The individual has no freedom of action or initiative. He seems to be happy in a superficial, in a purely material sense, but he has been deprived of his basic rights. It is the cause of these modern citizens that Auden depicts in the poem.
The title of the poem "The Unknown Citizen" is
suggestive. It recalls the name 'the
Unknown warrior' which was used for a fallen soldier who was taken as the
representative of all those who had been killed in the Great War, and who lay
in nameless graves in foreign battlefields.
The Unknown Citizen is a representative of the citizens who have been virtually
buried in the modern scientific society and have lost all their
individuality. Auden laments the loss of
individuality and freedom of the citizen.
Auden's Unknown Citizen was one who satisfied the
standards set by his state. The Bureau
of statistics declared that he obeyed all the laws of the state and followed
all conventions of society and there was no complaint about him. Fudge Motors Inc where he was employed was
fully satisfied with his work. He paid
his dues to the local trade union.
Researchers in social psychology declared that he was social and gave
company to his co-workers by joining them for a drink occasionally. The evaluators of newspapers stated that he
bought a newspaper every day and was normal in his response to
advertisements. The agents of manufacturers
of modern machines on installment basis and he paid his installments and
insurance premium regularly and punctually.
He was in fact a 'saint' in the modern sense of the term.
Public opinion polls showed that he had the right
opinions for the right season, always conforming to the general opinion. Though he loved peace, he was quite willing
to fight in a war. He had the right
number of children and had no objection to the state's giving any kind of
education to them. All these prove that
he was not free to express his opinions or view in any matter. He strictly did abid by the laws and interests
of his state.
In the last lines of the poem Auden asks an important
question; was the unknown citizen free and happy? The poet says that the question is
absurd. What he implies is that the
citizen might say that he is free and happy for fear of social isolation or
harassment. In fact he is not free to express
any of his preferences. He has no
freedom of action and initiative. Where
there is no freedom, there cannot be any happiness. Though he seems to be happy, he is only
pretending to be happy in the midst of the modern materialistic comforts.
Auden ironically depicts the problems of an ordinary
citizen in a totalitarian state. He has
no identity. He is just a cog in the
machine.
