O'Brien

O'Brien is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The protagonist Winston Smith, living in a dystopia society governed by the Party, feels strangely attracted to Inner Party member O'Brien. Orwell never reveals O'Brien's first name. Winston suspects that O'Brien is secretly opposing the Party. Eventually O'Brien approaches Winston with some leading remarks which seem to confirm Winston's suspicions. Winston finds the courage to approach him candidly, openly declaring himself an enemy of the totalitarian state. At first, Winston's intuition seems to be correct: O'Brien presents himself as a member of the "Brotherhood" seeking to overthrow the Party. When Winston is later arrested, it turns out that O'Brien is actually entirely loyal to the Party. He reveals himself as he enters the cell by responding to Winston's exclamation ("They've got you too!") by admitting, "They got me a long time ago." This could imply that O'Brien was once an "unorthodox"... full article at wikipedia