The Unknown Citizen

When people die, their loved ones often put a marker on their grave, carved with their name and birth and death dates. This commemorates a life worthy of note to at least another individual, if not to the populace at large. Unidentified soldiers who have died at war have been given tombs to honor them, showing their service and sacrifice. Auden deliberately uses such a “monument” to show that the active citizen has died, becoming just a number as they fall in line with the will of the State, nullifying their individual existence. This idea is shown, too, by the use of “marble” to describe the marker. Marble is used due to its strength as a stone resistant to weather and wear. At first, the fact that “JS/07 M 378” has a monument made of marble seems to make him significant, a man of importance. This is belied however by the lack of personal details, his heroics being of everyday activity. Instead, the monument is not for the individual citizen but what he stood for instead: absolute conformity. What is written in stone is not individual greatness but the sublimation of self to the State’s desires. The fact that the State places this idea into a monument made of marble shows they intend their control to last forever.