"The Unknown Citizen" is pretty ironic. All these accomplishments this person get aren't true accomplishments. They're a joke. The title is ironic because with all these "good" things this citizen did, he was still unknown.
The author is saying that happiness and freedom isn't necessary to men which is false and the opposite. Auden is explaining sarcastically these average everyday things this citizen does and glorifying them. He's no one special in reality. If Auden actually was straight forward, it would've been less entertaining and funny. This way he can capture the reader's attention.
Situational:
1. A traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
2. An ambulance goes to a bike accident scene and runs over the victim because the person crawled into the road.
3. A tow truck being towed.
Dramatic:
1. In a murder movie, you know the killer is in the building but the character doesn't know.
2. In Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet was in a drugged sleep. The audience knew but Romeo didn't. So Romeo killed himself because he thought Juliet was dead.
3. When someone goes on a show like Ellen and the person went on there thinking he was lucky but instead went on there to meet his long lost sister. The crowd already knew though.
Verbal:
1. When a person sees someone with an ugly shirt on and they say "Nice shirt you have on". (In a sarcastic voice of course)
2. When kids play video games and the mom comes in and says "Oh when you think you're done with that very important game, maybe spend some time doing homework or something".
3. When someone replies to you saying, "you're cool".
The author is saying that happiness and freedom isn't necessary to men which is false and the opposite. Auden is explaining sarcastically these average everyday things this citizen does and glorifying them. He's no one special in reality. If Auden actually was straight forward, it would've been less entertaining and funny. This way he can capture the reader's attention.
Situational:
1. A traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
2. An ambulance goes to a bike accident scene and runs over the victim because the person crawled into the road.
3. A tow truck being towed.
Dramatic:
1. In a murder movie, you know the killer is in the building but the character doesn't know.
2. In Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet was in a drugged sleep. The audience knew but Romeo didn't. So Romeo killed himself because he thought Juliet was dead.
3. When someone goes on a show like Ellen and the person went on there thinking he was lucky but instead went on there to meet his long lost sister. The crowd already knew though.
Verbal:
1. When a person sees someone with an ugly shirt on and they say "Nice shirt you have on". (In a sarcastic voice of course)
2. When kids play video games and the mom comes in and says "Oh when you think you're done with that very important game, maybe spend some time doing homework or something".
3. When someone replies to you saying, "you're cool".
RSS Feed