Friday, June 19, 2015

In 1984, how does Winston view Parsons, Syme, O'Brien? I had trouble understanding the book and that is why I am having trouble writing the...

PARSONS: This guy is a dutiful member of the working class.
Winston often sees him at lunch and his family lives near Winston. Parsons is really proud of his
children who want to be Thought Police. He always brags about them. When they treat Winston as a
criminal, I think it makes Winston a little weary of this man who is almost a friend to Winston.
I think his character is put into this book to contrast Winston's character. He serves as what we
call a foil. His duty to the country and pride is opposite of what we experience through Winston
as Winston questions the government.


SYME: This man also appears to
be a friend of Winston's. They too eat lunch together often. Winston's talks with Syme seem to be
about the new versions of newspeak. Syme is committed as well to his job, but he was a thinker
so Winston had Syme pegged from pretty early on. In book 1, chapter
5:



Unquestionably Syme
will be vaporized, Winston thought again. He thought it with a kind of sadness, although well
knowing that Syme despised him and slightly disliked him, and was fully capable of denouncing him
for a thought criminal if he saw any reason for doing so. There was something subtly wrong with
Syme. There was something he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving
stupidity.



I think Syme is type cast
as a sort of Winston early on to show us what could happen to Winston eventually. Syme too is
stuck between what he knows and being faithful to the government, but Winston here points out the
average flaws Syme has that could and eventually do get him in
trouble.


O'BRIEN: Depending on where you are in the book, Winston
goes through varying stages of intrigue about O'Brien. Winston has an uncanny respect for
O'Brien. He thinks O'Brien might be the key to the underground Brotherhood Winston may want to be
a part of. I think this character's position in the book proves that Winston wants to believe in
something greater than himself, and has hope to find it in another human. I don't want to give
too much away about his character because there is a good surprise you'll learn in Book 3 about
this character.

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