Mr. Charrington is a fairly old man who, to Winston’s initial impression, is a friendly and helpful individual whom like Winston, has an affinity for history. Mr. Charrington appears for the first time towards the beginning of the novel. He is the owner of an antique store in the prole district of London, which is where he acquaints himself with Winston. In their first encounter Mr. Charrington sells Winston the “peculiarly beautiful book” with the “smooth creamy paper” that Winston uses as his diary of criticism against the Party (97). Aside from the diary, he also sells Winston a pen, a glass paperweight with a piece of coral inside, and rents out the room above his antique shop for Winston and Julia to meet. He and Winston instantly “hit it off” due to their “interest in history and the past.” Consequently, Winston never suspects Mr. Charrington to be a member of the Thought Police, which is rather naive of Winston. As a result, Mr. Charrington ultimately reveals to Winston that he is indeed a member of the Thought Police.
Winston on Mr. Charrington:
He was a man of perhaps sixty, frail and bowed, with a long, benevolent nose, and mild eyes distorted by thick spectacles. His hair was almost white but his eyebrows were bushy and still black. His spectacles, his gentle, fussy movements, and the fact that he was wearing an aged jacket of black, velvet, gave him a vague air of intellectuality, as though he had been some kind of literary man, or perhaps a musician. His voice was soft, as though faded, and his accent less debased than that of the majority of proles (94).
Based on Mr. Charrington’s looks, Winston did not suspect, even a bit, that Mr. Charrington was bad company. Usually when one sees an elderly person, that elderly person seems harmless. In Mr. Charrington’s case, Winston does not expect him to be a nefarious individual due to his appearance. It’s due to his appearance that Mr. Charrington is able to get away as not being considered a member of the Thought Police– Like Julia, Mr. Charrington passes the eye test. Not only does Mr. Charrington have the air of an intellectual, he is also able to tap into Winston’s interest and relate to him. Hence, causing Winston to let his guard down. He says to Winston, “Is there anything special that I can do for you?” This gives Winston the impression that he is a friendly, and generous individual. Charrington also tries to build a sense of trust between him and Winston by being personal with him. He says, “between you and me, the antique trade’s just about finished. No demand any longer, and no stock either” (94). Just to reiterate, Charrington tries to pry into Winston’s personal liking for history, thus creating a bond between the two; a “trustful” one. He even sells Winston a relic of the past, which Winston is elated to have. Winston was infatuated by the paperweight not because of its beauty, but because its from an age that is different from the present one.
Mr. Charrington leads Winston to the room in which is in the end, a trap. He leads Winston up to the room, after offering Winston to take a look at it. Winston notices that the furniture is still in place, leading him to believe that the room indeed was once Mr. Charrington’s living space. Of the furniture, Mr. Charrington states: “We lived here until my wife died.” This just adds to him trying to build a sense of camaraderie between him and Winston by sharing a personal account. The room ultimately reminds Winston of his childhood, which to Mr. Charrington’s advantage, always for him to set Winston up. Orwell says,
… the room had awakened him a sort of nostalgia, a sort of ancestral memory. It seemed to him that he knew exactly what it felt like to sit in a room like this, in an armchair beside an open fire with your feet in the fender and kettle on the hob, utterly alone, utterly secure, with nobody watching you, no voice pursuing you, no sound except the singing of the kettle and the friendly ticking of the clock (95-96).
The room resembles a time of simplicity, of freedom for Winston. Mr Charrington cajoles Winston by telling him that tele screens are too expensive, so there’s no incentive of having one in the room. This rectifies the notion that Mr. Charrington is a indeed prole since he cannot afford a tele screen. Ultimately, he continues to add to his relationship with Winston by being very friendly with him and by also showing a great interest in him.
Mr. Charrington leads Winston to believe that he could use the money by renting the room out to him. Mr. Charrington is very nonchalant about renting out the room, leading Winston to believe that everything is fine. Mr. Charrington also doesn’t seem shocked knowing that Winston wanted the room for the purpose of a love affair. He continues to ease Winston in the trap by being empathetic towards Winston and his desires. Mr. Charrington communicates to Winston that privacy is a very valuable thing. “Everyone wanted a place where they could be alone occasionally. And when they had such a place, it was only common courtesy in anyone else who knew of it to keep his knowledge to himself” (138). Mr. Charrington gives Winston the impression that he is looking out for him by being “courteous and secretive.” Mr. Charrington turns Winston in to the Thought Police, ultimately betraying him. When the Thought Police break into the room, Mr. Charrington walks in appearing noticeably different. Winston felt as if Mr. Charrington was not the same person. “His eyebrows were less bushy, the wrinkles were gone, the whole lines of the face seemed to have altered; even the nose seemed shorter” (224). Mr. Charrington appeared to be thirty-five years old. Most notably, when Mr. Charrington and the rest of the Thought Police walk in, the paperweight falls and breaks on the floor. Ironically, Mr. Charrington was the one who sold the glass globe with the piece of coral inside to Winston. For Winston, the paperweight symbolizes what life was like in the past, before big brother. Now, it is broken, accomplishing the Thought Police’s main goal: erasing the past.
Although the audience is lead to like Mr Charrington at the start of the novel, he becomes the enemy towards the end. He pretended to be a confidant to Winston and Julia so that he could his try and catch the Thought criminals. Hence, he allowed them to rent out the room above his antique shop as a way to ensure their trust and make them believe that he indeed was just a prole “trying to earn a few extra dollars.” He convinced Winston that the room was extremely safe and private since it was without a telescreen. Mr. Charrington lied to Winston. He got all of the evidence he needed to punish Winston and Julia. The Thought Police captured them and took them to the Ministry of Love only to be put through extreme torture. Moreover, Mr. Charrington appears to be younger to Winston because in the novel it states that the government would often perform plastic surgery to completely change one’s look. Hence, why Winston barely recognized Mr. Charrington when he walked into the room. Mr. Charrington was apart of the Thought Police not a prole. Mr. Charrington seems to be a symbol of the amount of distrust throughout society in 1984. Initially, he seemed to be an honest and helpful man, but in the end he was traitorous and deceitful.