Mr Charrington's Room and the Persecution of the Past

Traces Winston's growing attachment to an old man and his shop, which turns out to be a trap set by the Thought Police.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The First Visit to the Shop

The First Visit to the Shop The Smell of Coffee Wandering through prole quarters, Winston catches a smell of real coffee and finds himself outside a junk shop. The old proprietor, Mr Charrington, recognizes him as the man who bought a keepsake album. The Paperweight Winston buys a glass paperweight with a piece of coral embedded in it, a beautiful, useless object from a vanished age. He feels that it belongs to a different world entirely. The Upstairs Room Mr Charrington shows him a room above the shop, furnished as if people still lived there. Winston is overcome by nostalgia and thinks of renting it, although the idea is madness.

Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and Lemons The Old Rhyme Mr Charrington recites a fragment of a forgotten nursery rhyme: 'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's.' Winston is entranced by the idea that a lost London still exists in these words. The Bells He imagines ghostly steeples ringing in a city before the Revolution. Even the names of old churches are a form of resistance against the Party's amnesia. The Poisoned Gift The rhyme is not a gift but a lure. Charrington uses nostalgia to attract his victim, and Winston's longing for the past is precisely the weakness the Thought Police exploit.

The Sanctuary Rented

The Sanctuary Rented The Arrangement Winston asks to rent the upstairs room, and Charrington agrees without surprise, even mentioning a second entrance through the back yard. He speaks of privacy as a valuable thing. The Transformation Julia and Winston use the room as their hideout. With careful politeness, Charrington supplies an oil stove, cups, and bedding, and never intrudes. He becomes part of the furniture of their dream. The Trap Springs Later Every detail of the room is prepared for surveillance. Charrington is not a benevolent old man; he is a stage manager, and the stage is set for an arrest.

The Collector's Fragments

The Collector's Fragments The Phosphorescent Antiques Charrington shows Winston more scraps of the past: a china bottle-stopper, a pinchbeck locket, a rhyme about twenty-four blackbirds. He seems to be a collector more than a tradesman. The Deepening Bond Winston begins to see Charrington as an extinct animal from the old world. He enjoys the old man's company because it feels like touching history. The Mask In truth, Charrington is a young Thought Police officer in disguise. Every relic he produces is bait, and every warm memory is a hook.

The Reveal

The Reveal The Voice Behind the Picture When Winston and Julia are caught, the iron voice that orders them to stand still comes from behind the picture. Mr Charrington enters the room, now a stocky man of thirty-five with black hair and no spectacles. The Transformation His body has straightened, his face has changed in small but complete ways. Winston realizes he is looking, with knowledge, at a member of the Thought Police. The Betrayal The friendliest face in Winston's life was a mask. Charrington's theft of the past is the final violation of Winston's secret world.

late April 1984

during the same visit

June 1984

throughout June and July 1984

August 1984, at the arrest