O'Brien is a key character and the main antagonist in George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is a high-ranking member of the Inner Party, the ruling elite in the totalitarian state of Oceania, and works in the Ministry of Truth, like the protagonist Winston Smith, but holds a distant administrative position
. Winston initially suspects that O'Brien secretly opposes the Party and is part of a revolutionary group called the Brotherhood. O'Brien deceives Winston by pretending to be a fellow dissident, gaining Winston's trust and inviting him into this supposed resistance
. However, O'Brien is actually an undercover agent of the Thought Police, loyal to the Party. He uses this false identity to trap thought-criminals like Winston, ultimately arresting and torturing them to enforce ideological conformity
. O'Brien is responsible for Winston's brutal re-education in the Ministry of Love, where he tortures Winston to make him accept the Party's version of reality—that objective truth does not exist outside the Party's control. O'Brien embodies the Party's cynicism and thirst for absolute power, famously describing the future as "a boot stamping on a human face—forever"
. Despite his cruelty, O'Brien shows a complex psychological relationship with Winston, recognizing a similarity in their minds but condemning Winston as "insane." His character symbolizes government oppression, manipulation, and the terrifying reach of totalitarian power
. In summary, O'Brien is a powerful Inner Party official who masquerades as an ally to Winston but ultimately serves as his captor and torturer, representing the Party's ruthless control over truth and individual thought in 1984
