HAs anybody read george orwell's 1984?

Question

How does Orwell’s “negative Utopia” eliminate the existence of the individual and individual thought. Also, what has taken the place of the individual?

Answer 1

I read it a long time ago.

I had to do my own homwork back then.

Answer 2

The Vulcans in Star Trek had their version of this -- "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of then one." Though, the Vulcans had the betterment of their society through the betterment of the individual, in 1984 it was different.

In 1984, any effort, even thought, directed to the betterment of an individual over the collective, before the collective, despite the collective or contrary to the collective, was illegal. Not only was it illegal but it was strictly enforced. All efforts had to be for the common good, even at the expense of the individual. There were no individuals, per se. Everyone had been reduced to a number, a ration and a resource only for the common good - alive or dead.

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Answer 3

Here is a site where, with a great deal of hard searching, you can find the answers. http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:vgkHbnk7iTUJ:www.orwelltoday.com/+orwell+1984&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us
The horror of 1984 is the elimination of everything which makes life worthwhile -- faith, love, freedom of thought, the right to be original in ones ideas, beauty and colour in the world around. It is a drab, grey, predictable world in which one's life and even one's thought process, is monitored. What's more, while Big Brother has a face, he is devoid of personality and any attributes which would make him human. He is an all powerful but robotic creature. And this non-human is aware of everything each individual does -- and ready to punish any deviation from the standards imposed.

Answer 4

The good of the state has taken the place of the will of the individual.

Answer 5

The "negative Utopia" would be symbolized by Big Brother himself. He "eliminates the individual" by getting into his subjects' heads and causing them to bend to his will using only their own fear and ignorance. He then uses the bizarrely ambiguous "doublespeak" so that anything and everything that comes out of his society will ALWAYS be right... no matter how contradictory it all is at first.

In short, psychological warfare for civilians.

Answer 6

well, its done pretty subtly, so its hard to tell what's going in. to me, the most glaring way they eliminated the existence of the individual was through Newspeak. without the capability of individual words, individual thoughts cease to exist. the government wanted no individuality because through individuality inevitably comes rebellion. so to speak, the government replaced the individual with like-thinking robots- virtual clones of each other, all thinking and acting alike

Answer 7

Big Brother isn't a robot. It's a repressive, totalitarian, (ostensibly) collective organization dedicated to groupthink.

Which is exactly what you're doing by asking a question on Yahoo! "Answers", instead of having actually read the novel for your low level college or high school English class

Answer 8

Big Brother makes the decisions. Citizens do not. Big Brother looks out for the welfare of all citizens whether they want him to or not. Big Brother eliminates personal liberities to ensure the welfare of the whole.

Big Brother grew out of the Patriot Act.

Answer 9

big brother is looking out for your interests.

Answer 10

There IS a website for this....sparknotes?