The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?

This line is spoken by O’Brien during Winston Smith’s imprisonment and “re-education” in the Ministry of Love in George Orwell’s dystopian novel *Nineteen Eighty-Four* (1949). In the interrogation scenes, O’Brien explains the Party’s philosophy of rule: it does not seek power as a means to some higher social good, but treats power itself as the ultimate end. The passage comes at the point where Winston still clings to the hope that tyranny is ultimately irrational or self-defeating; O’Brien insists instead that the Party’s cruelty is deliberate, systematic, and self-justifying. Orwell wrote the novel in the aftermath of World War II and amid anxieties about totalitarian regimes and political terror.

The quote rejects the comforting belief that political violence is merely instrumental—an unfortunate method used to achieve security, prosperity, or order. O’Brien argues that terror, oppression, torture, and murder can be ends in themselves when a regime’s true aim is domination. By repeating the structure (“The object of X is X”), the statement strips away ideological rationalizations and exposes a nihilistic logic: power perpetuates itself by inflicting suffering and demonstrating absolute control over bodies, minds, and even truth. The final question—“Now do you begin to understand me?”—underscores the pedagogical cruelty of totalitarianism: understanding is coerced, and comprehension becomes another form of submission.