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Tom Parsons In George Orwell's Down With Big Brother

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Tom Parsons In George Orwell's Down With Big Brother
Tom Parsons is a simple character on the surface. Readers do not get to know him on a personal level. All that readers know about him is that he is a fervent believer in the doctrine of Big Brother and that his daughter turns him in to the Thought Police. According to Winston, he is also fat and sweats copious amounts. However, he is crucial to the story in that he is the epitome of the mindset of the Party members. He is ardently devoted to Big Brother; a fact which Winston despises him for. His entire family is the model of a perfect family: a son and a daughter who are ardent supporters of Big Brother and who are Spies.
Parsons also fits the standards of Big Brother in that he is the treasurer of his block for Hate Week, and constantly leads community hikes and activities. His doublethink is beyond reproach, he follows the sudden change of enemy in the war without missing a beat. Living conditions are bad, but Parsons does not complain. When he is turned into the Thought Police, he is grateful that he is caught before he causes any damage to the Party …show more content…
At the end of the novel, Orwell reveals that Parsons is turned into the Thought Police by his daughter for muttering “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep. Subconsciously, Parsons is not the perfect party member that he appears as on the surface. By writing such an end for Parsons, Orwell is suggesting that no matter how tight a tyrant’s grip on the population may seem, the population will always find a way to improve their lives. Parsons is seen as a model citizen yet even he was able to subconsciously rebel against Big Brother. If he rebelled, maybe all citizens of Oceania are opposed to Big Brother's rule. This supposition, paired with the notion that the Appendix is written in the past tense, leads the reader to conclude that Big Brother’s fall is
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