Interesting take. I find it to be more paternalistic and echoes the idea of a BB as someone older and wiser who will guide [rule] you. Winston’s parents are dead too, no? I haven’t got the book in front of me. The intimacy between tortured and torturer also pushes the boundaries of what you’re suggesting … hmmm … and yes, the deep misogyny built into Winston’s view of Julia prior to their relationship (shooting her full of arrows? Paging Dr Freud …). I also hear echoes of critics of socialism and communism (as Orwell himself was) saying that every revolutionary basically wants a new master. Is O’Brien the “daddy” to Winston? He wants him to be, in the sense of a confidant and collaborator, and then ends up definitely as O’Brien’s slave (going all Hegelian here, yes). I dunno, it’s all interesting stuff. Love this book, change my mind about it every time I read it.