Why...?

[Kuzoslav]

Why did O'Brien have to be a bad guy and ruin the hopes of Winston Smith. That cruel, and after all he went through to talk to him. It was a coincidence because even though Winston hoped it was real...it let him down. But what would have happened if O'Brien was really a person and what if there was a real Brotherhood. Tell me what you think about it.

[Dark Muse]

If there was a real Brotherhood then the government would not have complete control of everything, for there would be something going on that they could not monitor, which would mean there system would not really last very long, but the way Big Brother is set up makes it near impossible for a real Brotherhood to ever exisist or be formed.

Perhaps the Proles might be able to start a Brotherhood becasue they are not as closely watched all the time, but they are so downtrodden and so much in thier own world, fed upon what Big Brother tells them and kept in igonorance that there is no real chance they acutally would be motivated or knowelgeable in order to do so.

And the inner party could not form a brotherhood becasue they are the government, and so they would be creating a rebellion against themselves, when they already have control of everything.

[nerdyarmadillo]

Well, when Winston asks O'Brian how they 'got' him, O'Brian had replied that they had gotten him a long time ago. This gives me the feeling that O'Brian was once much like Winston, hating Big Brother, trying to strike out and fight being pulled under. I think that O'Brian is just the changed Winston, the Winston who had the passion and rebellion beaten out of him until he loved Big Brother. Winston probably looks up to O'Brian with such deference because it is the wise Winston, with all of the answers to his questions. But it was not a coincidence, as you said, for they obviously knew Winston well enough to send O'Brian in, who seemed to be just like him. You could say that O'Brian is almost Winston's yang, if Winston were to be yin.

About the Brotherhood, I don't have much, except that perhaps it was an idea planted by B.B. Government themselves, to weed out the less faithful. If they showed any suspicious activity or hope, or tried making contact with another member of this 'Brotherhood', then they would be vaporized. So, perhaps like the rocket bombs dropped on the proles every so often, it is nothing but an elaborate lie, much like the rest of the events in the book.