Individuality in the unknown citizen by W H Auden

 In this poem, the unknown citizen is also unnamed. This illustrates the state's perspective of its citizens. To the state, such a citizen is no more than a collection of statistics. This unknown citizen is, judging by the state's statistics, relatively obedient. He is a diligent worker. He pays his Union dues. He goes to war when there is war and embraces peace when there is peace. He has the right amount of children, as determined by the state. He buys the right products. The state notes all of these statistics about this individual, but the statistics do not tell us the personality of the man. In terms of recognizing this man's humanity, his hopes, and dreams, the essence of this individual cannot be condensed to a set of categories and appliances that the man owned. 

The poem ends with legitimate questions which are dismissed. The speaker or speakers of the poem (presumably speaking as the state or the Bureau) ask if the man was free or happy. They answer their own question, saying that such questions are absurd. Clearly, the state does not care if he had been happy or free. He was a good citizen if he was obedient. His happiness is irrelevant to them. 

Auden also presents the notion that the obedient citizen is perhaps less free and maybe less happy. If the city would instead resist the state's institutional instructions, he might be freer. And if he makes a name for himself in this way (via protest, alternate lifestyle, etc.) he or she would become "known." However, becoming known as a dissenter is something the state would try to repress or discipline. 

This poem is quite prescient considering how citizens' information is collected today. With most things computerized, all of our information is archived. Even our names are replaced with usernames and passwords. All of our information is based on bank codes, purchase records, etc. If he had been alive during the computer age, Auden might have slightly altered his poem and called it "The Unknown Consumer."