Parsons—Winston’s neighbor Parsons is, in a way, the mirror opposite of Syme. He has no intellectual spark or curiosity, and seems to embrace everything about Party life. Yet he, too, falls prey to the Thought Police. His praise for his children’s vigilance against “traitors” comes back to haunt him when his own daughter reports him for mumbling “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep. His crime is not intellectual or ideological, but emotional: In a remote corner of his heart, he doesn’t truly love Big Brother.
