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reader21stcentury
reader21stce...
Student
High School - 12th Grade

In 1984, what does Winston Smith understand about himself after meeting Parsons?

This is not a homework question; it is just a question I think might show up in the exam.

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Posted by reader21stcentury on Monday November 9, 2009 at 5:20 PM and tagged with 1984, big brother, characters, english, government, julia, novel, o'brien, parsons, themes, totalitatrian, winston smith.

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  1. mstultz72 Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Tom Parsons is a foil for Winston Smith.  Tom has a family; Winston does not.  Tom is a working-class automaton; Winston is not.  Tom swallows his Victory Gin and the Party propaganda without question; Winston does not.  Tom is grateful he is turned in to the Thought Police by his own children; Winston is not.  Or so we think...

    Parsons is introduced in Book 1, chapter 2 thusly:

    Parsons was Winston's fellow employee at the Ministry of Truth. He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the thought police, the stability of the Party depended.

    Enotes has this analysis of Parsons:

    Eventually, his daughter turns him in for Thought crime because he says “Down with the Party” in his sleep. He tells Winston he is grateful he was turned in before his terrible thoughts became conscious.

    Winston does not want to become Parsons. That's why he keeps a journal.  That's why he visits the antique shop.  That's why he dreams of Julia and O'Brien and the meeting in the place where there is no darkness.

    But, inevitably, Winston ends up just like Parsons.  So says eNotes:

    [Winston] has a strange respect for his torturer, O’Brien, and seems to enjoy their battle of intellect, ideas, and wills. Indeed, he has been thinking about and fascinated by O’Brien for years, even dreaming about him. In a way, he seems happy to be confronting him at last.

    Both men are addicted to pain in the end, happy to be tortured.  Torture is easier than freedom; it quiets the brain, at least.  So, what happens to Parsons foreshadows what happens to Winston.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/1984/characters

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    Posted by mstultz72 on Monday November 9, 2009 at 5:33 PM