Thread:LucidPigeons/@comment-2175012-20160502154114/@comment-26205772-20160503161357

A symbolic villain created to represent a larger concept has to have their own independent character to measure, and most importantly, they have to be independent of the system to at least some degree. O'Brien doesn't count because, as you say, he's essentially an extension of Oceania. There's a hundred like him and we can reasonably infer they're all equally representative of the system. With Ewell, he can count because he exists beyond simply representing a corrupt/racist legal system; he also exists as his own character, an abusive, drunk, murderous hick. It'd be something of a different matter, I think, if the candidate were the judge or one of the jurors sentencing Tom. Unless one of those jurors or the judge receives independent characterization outside what they're meant to represent, they work solely as the face of the corrupt system and cannot be measured as their own character.