1984

by

George Orwell

Mr. Charrington Character Analysis

The elderly owner of the junk shop where Winston buys the diary, then the paperweight, and eventually rents a private bedroom for his trysts with Julia. Charrington induces Winston to trust him with his apparent reverence for the past, discreet behavior, and mild-mannered exterior. Actually a member of the Thought Police, Charrington ensures that the lovers are arrested.

Mr. Charrington Quotes in 1984

The 1984 quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Charrington or refer to Mr. Charrington. 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:
Totalitarianism and Communism Theme Icon
).
Book 1, Chapter 8 Quotes
What appealed to [Winston] about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one. The soft, rainwatery glass was not like any glass that he had ever seen. The thing was doubly attractive because of its apparent uselessness, though he could guess that it must once have been intended as a paperweight. It was very heavy in his pocket, but fortunately it did not make much of a bulge. It was a queer thing, even a compromising thing, for a Party member to have in his possession. Anything old, and for that matter anything beautiful, was always vaguely suspect.
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Mr. Charrington
Related Symbols: The Glass Paperweight
Page Number: 95-96
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Chapter 5 Quotes
Now that [Winston and Julia] had a secure hiding place, almost a home, it did not even seem a hardship that they could only meet infrequently and for a couple of hours at a time. What mattered was that the room over the junk shop should exist. To know that it was there, inviolate, was almost the same as being in it. The room was a world, a pocket of the past where extinct animals could walk. Mr. Charrington, thought Winston, was another extinct animal.
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Julia/The Dark-Haired Girl, Mr. Charrington
Related Symbols: The Glass Paperweight
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Chapter 9 Quotes
The blissful feeling of being alone with the forbidden book, in a room with no telescreen, had not worn off. […] The book fascinated [Winston], or more exactly it reassured him. In a sense it told him nothing that was new, but that was part of the attraction. It said what he would have said, if it had been possible for him to set his scattered thoughts in order. It was the product of a mind similar to his own, but enormously more powerful, more systematic, less fear-ridden. The best books, he perceived, are those that tell you what you know already.
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Mr. Charrington, Emmanuel Goldstein
Page Number: 199
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Chapter 10 Quotes
There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearthstone. The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake, rolled across the mat. How small, thought Winston, how small it always was!
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Julia/The Dark-Haired Girl, Mr. Charrington
Related Symbols: The Glass Paperweight
Page Number: 223
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mr. Charrington Quotes in 1984

The 1984 quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Charrington or refer to Mr. Charrington. 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:
Totalitarianism and Communism Theme Icon
).
Book 1, Chapter 8 Quotes
What appealed to [Winston] about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one. The soft, rainwatery glass was not like any glass that he had ever seen. The thing was doubly attractive because of its apparent uselessness, though he could guess that it must once have been intended as a paperweight. It was very heavy in his pocket, but fortunately it did not make much of a bulge. It was a queer thing, even a compromising thing, for a Party member to have in his possession. Anything old, and for that matter anything beautiful, was always vaguely suspect.
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Mr. Charrington
Related Symbols: The Glass Paperweight
Page Number: 95-96
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Chapter 5 Quotes
Now that [Winston and Julia] had a secure hiding place, almost a home, it did not even seem a hardship that they could only meet infrequently and for a couple of hours at a time. What mattered was that the room over the junk shop should exist. To know that it was there, inviolate, was almost the same as being in it. The room was a world, a pocket of the past where extinct animals could walk. Mr. Charrington, thought Winston, was another extinct animal.
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Julia/The Dark-Haired Girl, Mr. Charrington
Related Symbols: The Glass Paperweight
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Chapter 9 Quotes
The blissful feeling of being alone with the forbidden book, in a room with no telescreen, had not worn off. […] The book fascinated [Winston], or more exactly it reassured him. In a sense it told him nothing that was new, but that was part of the attraction. It said what he would have said, if it had been possible for him to set his scattered thoughts in order. It was the product of a mind similar to his own, but enormously more powerful, more systematic, less fear-ridden. The best books, he perceived, are those that tell you what you know already.
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Mr. Charrington, Emmanuel Goldstein
Page Number: 199
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Chapter 10 Quotes
There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearthstone. The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake, rolled across the mat. How small, thought Winston, how small it always was!
Related Characters: Winston Smith, Julia/The Dark-Haired Girl, Mr. Charrington
Related Symbols: The Glass Paperweight
Page Number: 223
Explanation and Analysis: