What is a person worth to their society? People do not normally consider what their community values them for, and perhaps ignorance is better than the realization of the truth. “The Unknown Citizen,” a poem by W. H. Auden, is an almost tedious epitaph of a deceased man’s life, but the poem is unexpectedly profound in its purpose of causing the reader to evaluate his or her own meaning to society. Other works that touch on the same topic as Auden’s poem are the plays Mrs Warren’s Profession by Bernard Shaw and Endgame by Samuel Beckett, which both portray the cold way that society evaluates its members like “The Unknown Citizen” does. These two plays and single poem compel the reader to question what is his or her life means to society, and see how people within their community view one another.
By far the best at illustrating the severe judgment that exists within civilization is “The Unknown Citizen” by W. H Auden. The poem is an orderly list containing the facts of a deceased man’s life. While alive this man had a job, he was married, had a respectable number of children, was in good health, and owned multiple modern devices. Society views the man’s life as successful based on the things listed in the poem, but the final lines read: “Was he happy? The question is absurd:/Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.” (Auden 29-30) According to the government and society this man apparently had a reasonably happy life, but the truth is how can they possibly know that based off a list of achievements? How the society in the poem comes to the conclusion that this man was happy shows that it thinks a person is worth only what position he or she holds and their possessions are.
Societies are good, right? They ...
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... Unknown Citizen” does, and encourages its own people to judge others based on what they have or do for a living. In order for society to change, those in it will have to shift this method of judgment themselves or it will remain the same.
Change for society is challenging, but one of the most wonderful things about society is that change is always possible. “The Unknown Citizen” is such a perceptive poem because it invites people to contemplate what their life means to those around them and grow concerned that people see them just as superficially as they see everyone else. Meanwhile, Endgame and Mrs Warren’s Profession both contain situations that show the harsh judgments that society willingly places on its own. Together, all three works show people that society’s method of judgment is a flawed paradigm and that the people in society are part of the problem.
People within communities have a large responsibility to one another. Sometimes, however, that responsibility and respect seem to fade, as in “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson, and “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe. Both of these stories describe settings in which communities fell apart either briefly or all together.
Social pressures change as time passes, therefore it is interesting to see how these three texts whom differ by almost four hundred years perceive society and the effect this has on the protagonists; Shakespeare’s King Lear which was first performed in 1606 during the Jacobean era, presents a patriarchal society. Whilst, Arthur Miller uses the characters in ‘Death of a salesman’ to show the failure of the ‘American dream’ during the “golden era” of America in the late 40’s. The ‘American Dream’ was a set of ideals which suggested that anyone in the US could be successful through hard work, and had the potential to live a happy life. The sense of the deterioration in the equality of opportunities links to the fall in power and hierarchy in King Lear. Arudanthi Roy, however, uses her contemporary Indian novel to illustrate, using a proleptic and coalesce structure, the lives of the protagonists living in a post – colonial society. In each of these three texts there are characters who fit the stereotypes that society has instilled in them, but then there are those characters who noticeably differ from the norm; According to 19th century novelist Alfred de Musset “how glorious it is – and how painful – to be an exception.” Hence this statement can be seen as applicable to these characters, because in all three texts these characters do end up losing a lot.
Individuals often have a strong desire to pursue their aspirations and desires due to their ambitious, determined innate nature. However, through these numerous achievements they have successfully fulfilled, other people’s perception of the individual will vastly differ depending on their relationship with him/her. In the poem “Prodigal”, Bob Hicok suggests that when individuals have successfully accomplished their ambitions, others will perceive the individual’s changed identity in vastly different ways depending on their relationship with the individual. An individual’s ambitious nature will also significantly impact themselves due to their ever-changing perception of themselves, which will greatly affect their own perceptions and decisions
Diana Moon Glampers, the United States Handicapper General is but one member of the government who demonstrates a failure to grasp the necessity of balancing fascism and extreme equitability. This also applies restriction in the sense of individualism and ideologies. To return to the original question: How does one 's perspective of an ideal society reflect their measure of self-worth? Through analyzing the text we resolved that when the standards of society are set by an individual’s perspective, others under the regulations will experience a lack of confidence, furthermore, dysphoria. In summation, although our strengths and weaknesses differ, we are “equal every which way”-Kurt Vonnegut
Bellow and Pynchon are great authors who have widely succeeded in creating characters in their novels who are in search or in need of something; from themselves to answers, knowledge, and power to name a few of the many. These characters tell a story in which the question of perceived individuality within a community receives an answer. Both of the characters of Oedipa of Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 and Joseph from Bellow’s The Dangling Man have similarities between each other and their own specific qualities. It is in the way that the audience perceives these characters versus the way that these characters perceive themselves in the midst of their community that there lies an answer to the individual’s place in their society.
Despite the state’s glorified rhetoric, Zamyatin reveals the volatile nature of stability when people walk “in twos” (129). This deviation from the norm of four signals a crack in the society’s ability to control its populace. When the government announces the Operation, pandemonium erupts as ciphers run without “[singing] the Hymn” and a couple “shamelessly copulates….without a ticket” (190, 192). The ciphers oppose routine. Before this ultimate requirement to conform, no cipher willingly lends himself to greater society, revealing the human instinct to be free. Even those who passionately embrace society’s standards quickly abandon them. As the expectations of the state clash with the nature of humanity, the plausibility of regulated happiness diminishes and becomes
In the early Victorian period, a number of poems were composed which served to highlight a specific troubled spot in society. The poets often wrote for human rights groups and the like in order to convey a message to those members of society who could make a difference, namely, the educated white men. Among these poems is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.” This piece deals with a female slave who has killed her newborn son and fled to Pilgrim’s Point, where she speaks of her feelings leading up to the present moment. Another poem, which can be placed in comparison to Browning’s, is Augusta Webster’s “A Castaway,” a dramatic monologue of a prostitute who struggles to justify her lifestyle both to herself and to her reader. In each of these works, the female speaker has acted in a morally questionable manner that initially appears condemnable. However, the issue is not clearly defined; many questions arise as to the motives behind and the circumstances surrounding each woman’s behavior. Do the choices made assert the freedom of each woman? That is to say, is the woman to be held entirely accountable for her actions based on the idea that she has freely chosen to carry them out? Upon careful reading of the two poems in question, the answer becomes much clearer. The choices made by the castaway and the runaway slave are in reality not the uninhibited decisions they at first appear. Restricted on all sides by their respective society’s powerful men, each woman faces very limited options. In each of the poems, the idea of choice (and subsequently, the question of its validity) emerges in the areas of materna...
Additionally, Emerson and Thoreau both warn the reader of the dangers when individuality is marginalized. Emerson views society as a “conspiracy against the manhood of every one of...
...ms by which to live. An individual confronts many challenges in society, whether it be crime and punishment, struggle to grow, or other rapid modifications. Cry, The Beloved Country and Things Fall Apart exemplify how societies can be disrupted and how people react to interruptions to their traditional way of life. Some choose to adapt to society’s new ways, while others resist assimilating themselves with the innovative public. Societal change happens no matter where you are, however, how someone allows it to affect them remains determined by that person. Society maintains their own way of punishment, production of a particular type of person, and causes some to prevent from adapting to its evolving ways.
Our society today in the United States has a cultural mold that they would like to see everyone fit into. It goes beyond how successful of a career you have or if you are married or not, the majority tries to sway opinions politically, spiritually and in other ways, these are the winds of culture that I want to stand up against. In The Road to Character, David Brooks uses a novel from Leo Tolstoy to show an example of a man named Ivan Ilyich who fits the social norm but started to think against it. Ivan lived an acceptable life by society 's views , he had a good career, family, and had accomplishments in his field of work. Although once he took a fall and found out he was dying, he came to the realization that the way
Some men are engraved eternally in the hearts and minds of those he inspired. It is done so in a fashion that allows his name to live eternally, long after his ephemeral existence. However, what truly sets a man apart from his lesser counterparts is his willingness to give without taking. Indeed, the pioneer aviator and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh puts it best when she says, “to give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own” In Charles Dickens’s A Tale of two Cities , Dickens shows the inherent goodness of his characters . By exemplifying various acts of sacrifice, he demonstrates the character’s gifts ultimately bring about great change, often changes that facilitate the revival of their loved ones.
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
In the late nineteenth century many European, and especially British, authors, play writes and poets wrote about the inadequacies of the upper class. Often times the author will not blatantly express his feelings, but rather he will hide them behind the plot or characters in his story. In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde mocks the values of the upper class. By fully exaggerating the flaws of the upper class, Wilde succeeds in expressing his beliefs that men and women of the upper class are shallow, foolish, and have no respectable values.
Emily Dickinson’s poem “I’m Nobody! Who are You?” and Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem “Richard Cory,” both address a simple, and very human drive: the desire to be “somebody”. Though both poets are, in essence, talking about the same thing, they do so in very different ways. Dickinson addresses the issue more directly, describing how much more favorable it is to be a nobody; while Robinson attacks this issue from the side, by describing the life of a somebody (Richard Cory). However, both poets come down on the same side of the issue, that is, that being a “somebody” is rife with problems and is likely more trouble that it is worth.
...which criticism and interpretation of modern society are available. Behan and Beckett are trying to open society’s eyes in order for them to question their lives and the world in which they live. When the representations are understood, the audience can begin to question the establishments of society, the rationality of blind or complete faith in a soulless and seemingly meaningless world, and the real purpose and meaning of their own lives. Behan and Beckett heighten expectations of existential writing and thought through their unforgiving and callous treatment of society, which reflects the abominable demeanor and absurdities of modern society and life.