The Unknown Citizen
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The Unknown Citizen
Stories are told in order that they can enhance our survival. In the poem, The Unknown Citizen, words have been inscribed on a monument. The monument is dedicated to a person only identified with a number that looks like the social security number assigned to all the United States residents. Apart from the number, JS/07 M 378, the only other detail included in the epigraph is the erector of the monument, the state. The name of the person is not known. Not much is told about him, but from what the poem insinuates, he could have been a soldier who died when fighting for his country. By telling about a dedicated soldier whose name the state does not even know, a story as this is told for survival to warn would-be victims.
By putting up the marble monument, the state was pretending to be celebrating an honored official. By referring to the authority that erected the monument as the ‘state,’ there is a lot of ambiguity. One is unable to tell the exact government that erected the monument, whether it is that of George Bush or the one for Clinton. Marble is known to be very expensive; in fact, it is only the government that can afford such a commodity for use as a monument. One is left to wonder why the state would spend so much money on a statute on which incomprehensible things are written. The poet can be thought of as just having fun when he came up with those letters.
A lesson with a survival value can be learnt from the story. The tomb on which the monument is erected represents thousands of others scattered across the country of loyal soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the country. The state is so unfair to them because the only reward it gives them is giving them a ceremonious burial and erecting the kind of monument described in the poem. Such form of reference to a person who died anonymously while fighting for his country is not only cold but also impersonal. Currently, government departments in the United States use these codes to identify its citizens rather than their names. A person willing to dedicate all of his or her life to the state should be warned by this story. He or she should do so expecting little reward from the government. To make matters worse, any monies used to buy the useless rewards come from the pocket of the taxpayer.
A question lingers about this man, although he is fallen already. The concern is on whether he lived a free live or he was happy. At the end of the poem, this question has not been answered. It is deliberately skipped and the space on which it could have been written taken up by words that do not convey any meaning to fellow citizens. The survival lesson is that the government uses people and has them commit to serve it all their lives. In return, there is nothing appreciable to show for it. Only unnecessary recognition are granted, and it is the only state that knows the importance of such recognition. To the common United State national, there are nothing but empty bureaucratizing acknowledgements that are not helpful at all (Auden, 2007).
There was no official complaint raised against the unknown citizen. The Bureau of Statistics believes he was a very admirable person, which is the reason it heaps praises of all kinds on him. Such impersonal treatment of citizens by the authorities has permeated all spheres of live. Ingram’s statement is highly applicable that stories are told for survival. Having read the story of The Unknown Citizen, no person will wait for meaningful reward from the authorities, regardless of the capacity in which he or she served. The aspect of survival in the poem is that people will not commit their time to the state at the expense of improving their lives.
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