O’Brien informs Winston that his “reintegration” into society will take place in three stages: learning, understanding, and acceptance. Winston, the reader now learns, has reached the second stage. O’Brien reveals to Winston that he wrote part of the Goldstein book himself, and that the book’s description of the Party’s operation is accurate. Power is God for the Party. The phrase “Freedom is Slavery” amply captures this; in fact, the phrase is not a contradiction, but a statement of higher truth, per O’Brien.

O’Brien, brilliant at his job, is relentless in his pursuit of controlling the human mind. Nonetheless, readers also get a glimpse of the extent to which O’Brien’s own thinking has been narrowed by the Party. When Winston points out that the Party’s power is not absolute, O’Brien insists there is no reality outside the human mind. If one wants to control reality, one has to control the human mind, O’Brien contends. In the final analysis, however, these broader questions do not appear relevant. All that seems to matter is, how one can control the other. In Winston’s case, O’Brien accomplishes this by subjecting Winston to immense suffering and pain. O’Brien believes that the Party would inevitably become more ruthless and merciless as it grows. No other pleasure, other than the intoxication of power, would matter as much.

Realizing that Winson is still holding onto a shred of his own self and the belief that there is some noble human good that will eventually rise up and triumph, O’Brien tells him that this way of thinking is not only obsolete but also on the verge of extinction. He even tells Winston that he (Winston) is the last and only human being to believe in human goodness. O’Brien also assures Winston that he will be broken, cured, and then eventually shot if need be.