Doctrine

The doctrine that O’Brien proclaims to Winston in this passage, plays an important role in maintaining the system of oligarchical collectivism because he is trying to convince winston to just join them now, because eventually he will. When Winston asks O'Brien if he too has been captured by the Party, O'Brien replies, “They got me long ago.” This reply could signify that O'Brien himself was once rebellious, only to be tortured into passive acceptance of the Party. Also O’Brien says to Winston, “You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same things as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes; only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal.” By telling Winston that "reality is created in the mind of the Party and not the individual", he shows that he believes the idea that everything exists to benefit the party and Big Brother, thus maintaining oligarchical collectivism. O'brien's main purpose is to convince Winston to forget about the system ever changing because it will never change.