Nineteen Eighty-Four essay "Notes on Nationalism" about the lack of vocabulary needed to explain the unrecognised phenomena behind certain political forces. In "Nineteen Eighty-Four", the Party's artificial, minimalist language 'Newspeak' addresses the matter. O'Brien concludes: "The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power." In the book, Inner Party member O'Brien describes the Party's vision of the future: A major theme of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is censorship, especially in the Ministry of Truth, where photographs are modified and public archives rewritten to rid them of "unpersons" (persons who are erased from history by the
O'Brien (Nineteen Eighty-Four) revealed in 2003 that O'Brien was the codename of NKVD agent Hugh O'Donnell, who received reports on the author from his subordinate David Crook when Crook spied on Orwell during the Spanish Civil War. In the 1984 film version of the story, O'Brien was portrayed by Richard Burton in his last role prior to his death. In the 1956 film, O'Brien was renamed O'Connor, possibly to avoid confusion with Edmond O'Brien, who portrayed Winston. O'Connor was played by Michael Redgrave. In the 1954 BBC Television adaptation of "Nineteen Eighty-Four", the character was played by André Morell. Canadian actor Lorne Greene