The Inverse of Betrayal

 As I wrote my last post, I realised that I was only going into the book from Winston’s perspective. When I started to think from the mind of a loyal party member, such as Charringtion or O’Brien, I realised that, while to Winston, they had betrayed him, to them they were simply holding their loyalty to the party.

Since we see the book from Winston’s perspective, we are likely to sympathize with him more, and perhaps see him as more of the “good guy,” but if you think like a loyal party member, Winston is just a criminal; he is the “bad guy” who went against the Party, against the order.

On the opposite side of betrayal there is loyalty; just as Winston was loyal to his beliefs and the concept of the Brotherhood, O’Brien and Charrington were loyal to the Party.


While I still am biased towards the Party and life in 1984 being quite terrible, I can see how each side would consider themselves the good guys.

What do you think? Can you sympathize with O’Brien and Charrington?

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