1984
O'Brien : Villian / Victim?
Do you think O'Briem is a victim or a villian . Would you hold him responsible or do you think he's a product of his society?
In the beautiful and very intellectually written novel , "1984" , O'Brien at the beginning is portrayed as nothing more than a friend of Winston . O'Brien claims that he is a member of the Brotherhood ( a organization rebelling against the party) Since Winston also dislikes the party ,he trusts O'Brien. Winston is also very intellectually attracted to him since O'Brien is a member of the brotherhood , Winston thinks he has more guts than him (Whether the Brotherhood exists or not is never revealed throughout the course of the novel. But I think Winston believes it merely because he WANTS it to be true ) But in all reality , O'Brien is a undercover member of the thought-police. The entire time he was spying on Winston and Julia as they broke numerous laws. I personally think that O'Brien is a victim and a villain. Similar to how someone that was treated poorly as a child would inflict pain on others as a adult.Even though we are never informed of O'Brien's past . I feel like double-think applies to O'Brien's personality He uses it when Winston asks"No, I mean... does he exist like you or me? " and O'Brien replies with "You do not exist." Double -think exists when your external and internal reality are conflicted. In my opinion O'Brien uses double-think one to believe in the Party's policies. I believe he has thoughts that are in denial of the party's policies. He IS responsible for everything he's done and he's also a product of his society . My theory is that he was once rebellious and then realized that there's no point in rebelling against the party, and then chose to join them and have the luxuries that were permitted to them regardless of the consequences. He didn't care if that meant torturing other people or even killing them .He was probably tortured too . I just can't believe he was born the way he is. One reason that leads me to believing this is the part where Winston asks "They got you too? " and O'Brien replies with "They got me a long time ago." As a reader , I don't know if he's telling the truth or is still trying to maintain Winston's trust and sympathy for what's about to come. He's too intellectual to not have been rebellious at one point. Maybe in the past he was rebellious but that was erased from history , textbooks and minds. O'Brien is a very interesting character and I wish I knew more . There's so many questions at this point in the book!