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Tom Willard
A doctor who claims that he no longer wants patients. Parcival has a disheveled, off-putting appearance and lives in a tiny, filthy room above a local diner. He seeks out George Willard and tells him the long (and likely embellished) story of his life. Parcival tells George about his difficult upbringing and chaotic family life, even insinuating that he may have had a criminal past. Before becoming a doctor, he worked as a newspaper reporter and trained to be a minister. The older man hopes to inspire George not to make the same foolish mistakes he did. Parcival’s dark past has left him with a resentful, self-victimized attitude to the point that he refuses to help the other doctors in town when a little girl is killed in a buggy accident.
Doctor Parcival Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Doctor Parcival or refer to Doctor Parcival. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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5. The Philosopher Quotes
“If something happens perhaps you will be able to write the book that I may never get written. The idea is very simple, so simple that if you are not careful you will forget it. It is this—that everyone in the world is Christ and they are all crucified. That’s what I want to say. Don’t you forget that. Whatever happens, don’t you dare let yourself forget.”
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Doctor Parcival is one of several men throughout the novel who seek George Willard out in order to mentor him. Perceiving the sense of innocence and potential that George embodies, Parcival tells the young boy his life story in order to prevent George from making the same preventable mistakes. Parcival, who has been embittered by his dysfunctional upbringing and troubled path in life, reacts to this sense of failure by becoming resentful and cynical toward the world. As a result, he does not want patients at his medical practice and refuses to help other doctors in Winesburg when a little Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a.
11. A Man of Ideas Quotes
“Let’s take decay. Now what is decay? It’s fire. It burns up wood and other things…This sidewalk here and this feed store, the trees down the street there—they’re all on fire. They’re burning up. Decay you see is always going on…The world is on fire. Start your pieces in the paper that way. Just say in big letters ‘The World is On Fire.’ That will make ‘em look up.”
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Joe Welling, the Standard Oil agent in Winesburg, is envious of George Willard’s job as a local reporter, believing that he is more suited to the role. Joe, who is infamous for accosting people on the street and engaging them in long diatribes, confronts George about the fact that he perceives things that the young reporter does not notice. Joe points out the decay (both literal and figurative) that he sees all around them, telling George that everything they see is “on fire” and being gradually destroyed. This statement reflects the novel’s ongoing motif of the grotesque, wherein many characters Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde e
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Doctor Parcival Character Timeline in Winesburg, Ohio
The timeline below shows where the character Doctor Parcival appears in Winesburg, Ohio. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
5. The Philosopher
Doctor Parcival, an unkempt man with an off-putting appearance, takes a liking to George Willard. When George’s...
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Doctor Parcival moved to Winesburg five years ago from Chicago, immediately got into a drunken fight, and...
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...in a buggy accident. While the other three doctors in Winesburg rush to the scene, Parcival refuses to leave his office. No one notices his absence, but George finds the doctor...
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