Mr. Charrington - Character, 1984 | 1984 - Summary, Themes & Characters - Novels PDF Download

Mr. Charrington is an old widower with a cockney accent who keeps a secondhand store in the Prole district. He sells Winston the journal he starts in Book One, and rents out the room atop that same store to Winston and Julia in Book Two. Kind and amiable, Mr. Charrington shares Winston’s interest in the past, and chats with him about antiques and other remnants. Mr. Charrington shares with Winston his knowledge about certain items, but never asks any questions.

But alas! As you might have discovered by now, Mr. Charrington is not as he seems. Cold, alert, and about thirty-five years of age (as opposed to the jovial, 60-year-old, wrinkly, bushy-eyebrowed, bespectacled widower Winston thought him to be), he is actually a member of the Thought Police. The dude is basically an undercover agent for the Party whose job is to sniff out subversive citizens.

What’s the point of Mr. Charrington? He illustrates the ‘"just when you thought you were safe" mantra we seem to have adopted since beginning 1984. He emphasizes the themes of betrayal, deception, and all around brutality that are woven through the text.

Mr. Charrington's Timeline

• Mr. Charrington sells Winston the "peculiarly beautiful book" with the "smooth creamy paper" that Winston uses as his diary of diatribes against the Party.
• Mr. Charrington recognizes Winston, who is taking a little nighttime stroll in the Prole district one evening.
• The two chat about the "young lady’s keepsake album" Winston bought, and then Mr. Charrington goes on to sell Winston a coral paperweight.
• Mr. Charrington shows Winston the empty room atop his shop, and explains that he and his wife lived there until she died. Now, he says, he is selling the furniture off little by little.
• Mr. Charrington shows Winston the print of St. Clement’s Church hanging in the room, and begins to teach Winston the rhyme about the bells of St. Clement’s.
• We find out from Winston that he has rented the room from Mr. Charrington so he and Julia can meet privately and away from the scrutiny of telescreens.
• When Winston and Julia are caught, Mr. Charrington is the voice behind the print of St. Clement’s Church that says: "you are the dead." The house is then surrounded by Thought Police, and Mr. Charrington finally reveals himself – without the spectacles and the cockney accent – as a member of the Thought Police.