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Alberto Manguel's Essay: The Unknown Citizen

1282 Words6 Pages

Andrew Rezk Professor Sloan English 112 18 November 2015 Known Verses Unknown Citizen: Comparison between different kinds of citizens “Books may not change our suffering, books may not protect us from evil, books may not tell us what is good or what is beautiful, and they will certainly not shield us from the common fate of the grave. But books grant us myriad possibilities: the possibility of change, the possibility of illumination.” said Alberto Manguel. With that being said Alberto Manguel’s statement is clearly illustrated in comparing between the ten minutes play “the Philadelphia” by David Ives and the poem “the Unknown Citizen” by W. H. Auden. Despite that fact the two works were written in totally different eras and totally different …show more content…

Moreover, throughout the poem we learned that Auden was pointing towards the average man that decided not to make a change and stay in his box thinking that he will always be safe leaving the society to relay on him and role his life without even saying his own opinion. For instance, in 2011 a great revolution happened in Egypt a movement against all the odds of the country. The youth wanted to make a change, they wanted to fight all the corruption the “the Unknown citizen” decided to stay quiet about for over thirty years .the youth decided to be the “Known citizen”. Finally, the poem reaches its peak within the closing two lines of the poem. After outlining the way the Unknown citizen lived and how his society reacted towards him, the poem asked two great question that will make the audience think doubt that citizen feel free and happy. The poet also wanted the reader to think about his life and decide if he is known or unknown …show more content…

The play shows the concept of two different methods of realism within the mind. The comparison between person’s mindset and reality are demonstrated in very comic by Ives. The fact that Al got sucked into Mark’s Philadelphia show the reader that the emotions and mindset of a person is so powerful that it make people around them feel the same way. Moreover, Al is a symbol of an individual who just live in his own world (Los Anglos); he reacted at first quite uncaringly about losing his beloved job and woman (Susie). Mark is the character who disturbs this parallel worlds that Al live at the beginning hitting him with that truth. Finally, Philadelphia was an imaginative way to show how people have the ability to change their viewpoints on life, regardless of what is happening to them. It also show the importance of having target and hope in life, it is just like leaving a place for better one. Regrettably, a lot of people feel that they are stuck on certain place because they were born in, they must forever live and then die there, this same motionlessness happens within the mind. Thus, the general message in comparing this kinds of citizens, is that people must create a space for themselves where they dream and set their target then work on it to achieve their desires, without just being a data in the bureau statistics. One man’s misfortune isn’t the other man’s problem. Misfortune can always happen to a stranger or someone you know however only by experience could we fully

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