O'Brien Is a Mysterious Character

O'Brien is a mysterious character who seems to be Winston's friend and co-conspirator in fighting Big Brother. Both Winston and O'Brien talk about Syme who is an "unperson." However, reference to Syme is mortally dangerous since he is no longer considered a dead person. But the discussion between both of them portrays how O'Brien might really be on Winston's side. In addition, the word unperson is italicized in this chapter to accentuate the immorality of thought crimes.

On the other hand, O'Brien's action shows that he peculiar. For example, if you look at this quote: "Immediately beneath the telescreen, in such a position that anyone who was watching at the other end of the instrument could read what he[O'Brien] was writing, he scribbled an address, tore out the page and handed it to Winston" (183). O'Brien openly writes his address in front of the telescreen which seems ironic since if he was really against the party he would have written the address secretly.

Moreover, there's another reference to Newspeak. O'Brien congratulates Winston on his use of Newspeak and asks if he takes a scholarly interest in it. O'Brien tells Winston that in the new, tenth edition of the dictionary, there is a further reduction in the number of verbs, and therefore a reduction in the number of actions a person can take.

In addition,