O'Brien's role in the third part of 1984 is to reprogram Winston's thoughts so that he internalizes the values of the Party. Winston's fundamental crime lies not in what he did, though that is criminal too, but what he thought. He believed he could think differently from the government, and he thought he could rebel and win against the government. O'Brien's role is to show him that the government is all powerful, and that he,...
O'Brien's role in the third part of 1984 is to reprogram Winston's thoughts so that he internalizes the values of the Party. Winston's fundamental crime lies not in what he did, though that is criminal too, but what he thought. He believed he could think differently from the government, and he thought he could rebel and win against the government. O'Brien's role is to show him that the government is all powerful, and that he, Winston, is nothing.
O'Brien does this through torture but also by revealing that the government knew all along everything Winston was doing. Big Brother and his spies truly were watching him. They were reading his journal and replacing the speck of dust. They were filming his affair with Julia. They were ahead of him every step of the way. Challenging them was futile.
O'Brien has two other tasks. First, he must get Winston to truly believe that whatever the government says is true is the truth. That is why Winston must come to believe, not just pretend to believe, that two plus two equals five. He must not have independent thoughts.
Finally, O'Brien must rid Winston of his illusion that he is a person of integrity, thus destroying his sense of humanity. He does this by getting him to betray Julia.
O'Brien is important because he is the face of the totalitarian government and fully explains its beliefs while demonstrating its power and what it will to do to a person to ensure complete obedience. He is Big Brother personified, and it is not a pleasant picture.
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