o the narrator's own poor financial and social state. For the narrator, work is a place of darkness and hardship where you simple "wait for the light." For the narrator, there is no meat to eat at dinnertime, and after so many meals without it, you begin to curse the cheap bread that you do have to eat. However, not one bad word about Cory passes from the narrator's lips. This speaks volumes about Cory's character, and makes the reader think that maybe this Richard Cory is as great a guy as he seems.In the last two lines of the last stanza, with a minimum of detail and no explanation, Robinson simply tells how Cory "...one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head." With that, the poem ends, but the questions remain. Robinson never even gives us a clue as to why this popular rich man would do a horrible thing such as this, but this just goes to show that not everything is as it seems. By taking what is viewed only from a distance, you cannot assume everything is right.In comparison, just as Richard Cory was told from an outside standpoint, The Unknown Citizen was written in the same way. This time, instead of the story being told by someone looking up to him, admiring him, it is told from the perspective of an unemotional, unexcitable individual. The speaker of this poem seems to be a government employee or an official from the State. He is someone who strictly follows rules and regulations. He makes sure that the unknown citizen obeys the rules and does everything in order. He shows no emotion in describing the events and records of the unknown citizen. His routine is highly emphasized. To the speaker, statistics are extremely important to grade and categorize the unknown citizen. The unknown citizen is someone who pays his taxes, satisfies the employers, reads the newspaper daily, has the correct number of children, fights for peace and supports the war. In spite of all these facts, the subject remains "unkno...
