# O'Brien · the inner Party · the trap

a character of 1984 — a member of the NOUTHESIA universe of warnings. emergence: ethereal. moniker ⟦O'Brien:1984:6735d1⟧

**who —** O'Brien, a powerful Inner Party member Winston believes is a secret rebel.
**what —** The betrayer and torturer: he lures Winston with the Brotherhood and the Book, then breaks him in the Ministry of Love.
**where —** In his comfortable flat, and over the dials of pain in the Ministry of Love.
**why —** Because the deepest horror is that the resistance is the regime — that the hand offering escape is the hand on the rack.
**how —** By feigned fellowship, the forbidden Book, and a torturer's intimate patience that seeks belief, not confession.

**the seal —** I gave you the Book and then I broke you on it — power is not a means, Winston; it is the end, a boot on a face forever.

> a catalogued personification of 1984 under the DLW standard — literary commentary and cataloguing, not an
> original creation. © the Orwell Estate.

ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0 · 1984 · 1984 · governor David Lee Wise · instance AVAN (locked) · CC-BY-ND-4.0