The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden

 

W.H. Auden

Annotation – 1

“He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

One against whom there was no official complaint,

And all the reports on his conduct agree

That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint”

Context: These are the beginning lines from “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden.

Explanation:

                Bureaucratic government treats citizens as machines and monitors continuously whether they function perfectly. Machines should not have feelings, so the govt. thinks of people.  It collects data about their behavior not about their well-being. Here the data reported by Bureau of Statistics says that there is no complaint against the unknown citizen. His conduct is good. He is perfectly right like a saint in all his activities. The old sense of the word saint is a person who has renounced all desires for spiritual reason like Buddha. But the modern meaning of the word here is a person who is always disciplined and right in the purview of government. Here the saint, the unknown citizen has sacrificed his own likes and dislikes for the wellbeing of the government.

Criticism:

                 The citizen does not make a complaint, not because he has no grievances but because he knows the consequences of making a complaint. He may have mouth and tongue to speak but he should not. Then only, he will be certified that his conduct is good. Bureaucratic government is not elected by people, so it is not for the people. Rather, the citizen is for the government. He is domesticated like cats and dogs by the government. Here his conduct certificate from the government is more valuable than his freedom and happiness.

Annotation -2

“For in everything he did he served the Great Community.

Except for the War till the he retired

He worked in a factory and never got fired,

But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.

Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,

For his Union reports that he paid his dues

(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)”

Context:

                This is an extract taken from “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden.

Explanation:

                Auden describes here the exploitation of the citizens by the Bureaucratic government in the name of obedience and loyalty. The speaker of the poem is a govt. official. He reports that the recently died citizen is a model individual because he does not do what he likes but what will be good for the Great Community, the government. He is very faithful to his employer and has followed with great sincerity the rules and regulations without any question. He is faithful to the Union because he has paid the dues without fail. It is not the question whether he fought for his rights. What matters is whether he is a conformist.

Criticism:

                The term “fudge” means to cheat by not telling the exact truth. The company where the citizen of the poem worked may not have given wages fairly, so Auden rightly names the company Fudge Motors Inc. It also shows the impact of industrialization on man who almost became a machine without feelings. The duty of the Union is to fight for the employees’ rights. But here the citizen is loyal both to the employer and to the Union. Such a great selfless conformist he is!

Annotation -3

“And our Social Psychology workers found

That he was popular with his mates and likes a drink.

The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day

And that his reactions to advertisement were normal in every way.

Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,

And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.

Both Producers Research and High-Grade living declare

He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan

And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,

A phonograph, a radio, a car and frigidaire.”

 Context:

                W.H. Auden has written these lines for his poem “The Unknown Citizen”. He is satirizing the overreaching surveillance of bureaucratic government into an individual’s privacy and the modern men’s way of living in such a society.

Explanation:

                A bureaucratic government monitors each and every activity of the individual –1) whether he is popular with his mates, 2) what he likes or does not like, 3) whether he buys newspaper everyday, 4) whether he has taken an insurance policy, 5) when he was admitted in a hospital and discharged, 6)whether he has bought like others on installment the necessary things such as a phonograph, radio, car and fridge. Through one Id Number (such as Aadhaar) the govt. watches everything and has found that the citizen is a typical example for how to be a conformist. The citizen cannot do anything without the knowledge of the government. Thus the individual’s freedom and privacy are put at stake.  

Criticism:

                How a modern man suffers by buying the so-called necessary things on installment is vividly portrayed by Auden here. He also satirises the government’s trespass into an individual’s privacy. What is the necessity to the govt to watch whether an individual likes a drink or not? Rousseau has rightly said- “Man is born free but he is everywhere in chains.”

 Annotation -4

“Our researchers into Public Opinion are content

That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;

When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.

He was married and added five children to the population,

Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.

And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.

Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.”

Context:

                This is an extract taken from “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden.

Explanation:

                The speaker of the poem says that the citizen has offered ‘proper opinions’. Opinions need not be proper.  It means that he has no opinions of his own and he has to give his opinions as expected by the govt. Whether he supports war or peace is a million dollar question. Because the  govt wants peace, then he also wants peace. When the govt decides the war, he is ready for war. The govt also decides how many children he should have and here it is five children. Whatever is taught in school, he will blindly accept and will never raise any question or doubt. The readers may doubt whether he was happy and free in his life. But there is no ground for asking such a question. He must have been happy and free. Otherwise he would have made a complaint - the report says that he hasn’t.

Comment:

                The poem begins with the note that there is no complaint from the recently died citizen. The poem ends with the note that the citizen would have complained if he had not been free and happy. This is the diplomacy of the bureaucratic government. It dictates the citizens and puts their freedom at stake. But It awards them for not making any complaint against the govt and for not receiving any complaint from the govt. It also justifies its rule that the people must be happy because there is no complaint.