Posted by jsm on April 18, 2001 at 12:27:18:
In Reply to: the role of O'Brien? posted by witch on April 17, 2001 at 17:59:42:
He's a good-cop bad-cop figure. He's a cynical Party man, which means that he's an enemy to what we admire in Smith, but I disagree with you as to whether Smith is a revolutionary. He isn't one, in any really important sense. He's just a common Outer Party member who makes one mistake of questioning his station. He was always doomed to failure, and fundamentally wants to be brought back into the fold by O'Brien. "The hope lies in the proles".