Significance of the title "unknown citizen"and discuss the use of irony and stire in the poem
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
To intensify the irony found throughout the poem, the speaker of the poem is very judicious and careful in the depiction of this unknown factory worker, just another nameless face in modern world. This unknown citizen is depicted as having never been fired, which translates, in the total context of the pervasive irony, he did not have a spine to stand up for his rights. Such conformity, common among the “programmed automatons” in today’s society, is further strengthened by the facts that he was a due-paying union member, he was popular with his drinking buddies, he subscribed a daily newspaper, he was a law-abiding citizen, and he owned a “phonograph, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire,” just like the rest of the population. Yet nobody knows his name; rather, he is known by only, say, his social security number: “To JS/07/M/378/.” He is a truly unknown citizen. To obliterate any hint of his individual identity, he does not have an address that anchors him to a specific locality. Although the speaker tells us he was married, we do not know who his wife was, let alone his children. Now then why or who would erect a marble monument for such nameless faces in the crowd? What is the point? Why would “the State” erect a monument to memorialize the death of this automaton who did not own an opinion: “When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.” Such conformity pokes fun at modern existence, lacking individuality and freedom. He is a conformist, an unthinking robot, no one will ever miss even if he gets run over by a car. Why then should “the State erect This Marble Monument” for him? In that biting sarcasm lies the satiric irony.