The Unknown Citizen Identity Quotes

There’s no way of knowing what the strange combination of numbers and figures is supposed to mean, but we think it’s a dedication "to" the Unknown Citizen. If so, then Auden is setting up a point he will make in less blunt fashion in the poem: if people are treated only as statistics, they might as well be a statistic, or a number. It’s like calling a person "C3PO" or "R2D2."

The beginning of the poem sneakily suggests that the Unknown Citizen is, in fact, an individual, or "One." But it also introduces the idea that the "official" realm is all that matters. For example, it makes no difference if there were "unofficial" complaints about him – maybe his wife says he snores too much – as long as the government doesn’t have to deal with it.

A scab is a worker who ruins a labor strike by returning to work before the strike has achieved its goals. Although scabs are usually considered cowardly, at least they take a stand for something, even if it’s their own personal gain. But the Unknown Citizen never breaks from the "mass" identity that binds him in every situation – in this case, at work. There is nothing "odd" about him, but what this really means is there is nothing to him, period. He has no independent personality. He goes whichever way the winds are blowing.

Social Psychology is the study of group identities. A group of rioting fans at a football match would be a great subject for a Social Psychologist. According to these workers, the Unknown Citizen was a popular guy. Could he have become popular without having a unique identity?

Public Opinion researchers are people who take polls and surveys that turn people’s opinions into statistics. They are notoriously inaccurate and often silly. Like the Social Psychologists, they study group identity, not the individual. The Unknown Citizen has no stable opinions – he changes them depending on "the time of year."

The poem suggests the freedom and happiness are concerns of the individual, not the group. These two questions are more relevant to personal identity than any others. But the State has no concern for them.