Here is my explanation with a jsfiddle.

//this is already a valid javascript object
//no need for you to use JSON.parse()
var obj1 = {"name":"abcd", "details":"1234"};
console.log(obj1);

//assume you want to pass a json* in your code with an ajax request
//you will receive a string formatted like a javascript object
var str1 = '{"name":"abcd", "details":"1234"}';
console.log(str1);

//in your code you probably want to treat it as an object
//so in order to do so you will use JSON.parse(), which will
//parse the string into a javascript object
var obj2 = JSON.parse(str1);
console.log(obj2);

JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML.