Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

O'Brien

Does O’Brien really fit the mentor role? Yes – at first. Winston feels so ambivalently towards this enigma of a man that he at once identifies with O’Brien, worships him, and hates him. But mostly worships. Winston puts him on a pedestal, and O’Brien comes to fit the pedestal part. He takes Winston under his supposedly rebellious wing, giving him supposed information about the Brotherhood and providing Goldstein’s supposed manifesto.