Why does O'Brien claim that the Big Brother society will be eternal? What about their system lives on without interruption and how is that possible? Is there any hope for the future of Oceania or are they destined to be 'enslaved'? If there is hope for change, where should Winston look?
Coco, I'm countin on you're help, buddy. =P
One view is that Orwell is making digs at the Catholic Church. Oceania is a society very much like that of the church, with one big ruler who is infallible and whose successor is chosen by the "inner circle." (The book that O'Brien gives Winston explains that a party can remain in power as long as it can nominate its own successors--as the Church does.) In Oceania, Big Brother is MADE to be infallible by all the lies that people like Winston take part in perpetuating at the Ministry of Truth. Since he does not actually exist, he cannot die, hence he is eternal.
I don't think that Orwell's vision has any hope. It's a very dark vision. NO ONE is happy, not even poor Parsons who appears to be a Party zealot but is eventually caught saying "Down with Big Brother." The individual is always defeated. Winston believes he can "win" by keeping his heart inviolate, and he fails every time: he betrays Julia, and he cannot even keep his hatred of Big Brother a secret as he thought he could. In the end he loves BB, and that is the end of the story.
This does not mean that Orwell himself had no hope. He deliberately paints a very ugly picture of what life COULD look like at some future time (but not NOW) if we do not protect our liberties. He wants readers to say, "Eew, we can't let that happen," and then hopefully to take steps to prevent Oceania from becoming a reality.
So then we are asked to think: What CAN we do to prevent Oceania from becoming a reality?
I hope this helps.
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