The poem "The Unknown Citizen " by W.H. Auden, is a poem about the dangers of conformity and the failure to cultivate a sense of individuality. The individual that is described in the story is somebody who never made a mark on society. He did everything that he thought was supposed to be done and never took his own individualism into account. In today's society the government is trying slowly to have people conform and to track them but hopefully people in the United States aren't easily susceptible to such propaganda. In my own life, I have tried to be the "perfect daughter." I never wanted to disappoint my parents and did everything that they wanted me to. Well after reading this poem, I realized that the worst thing to do is to not be yourself, but be the person somebody else wants you to be. This is the main point of the poem, fitting in and being just a number to the government.
             This poem is being written by W.H. Auden but it is actually the inscription on the man's headstone. The man who is not even identified by a name, only a number, is being honored by the state. The entire poem is a description of his life but in a very detached sort of way. They describe his life from the beginning when he worked at a car manufacturing plant, to entering the army, having children, and then dying. The way they describe is harsh. They do not say whether he was happy with his job at the factory or whether he liked being in the army. They simply say it as though he were a robot and that he was preprogrammed and expected to follow this route. When they describe him having children, they simply state that he added five children to the population instead of describing it as him having had children. Every bureau or department just viewed him as a number. The government tracked his life in every minute detail without really caring if the person was happy or enjoyed his life, just as long as he followed the path t...