Previous
Rikki Stormgren
George is Jean’s lover and later spouse, as well as the father of Jeffrey and Jennifer. George is a theater director who moves his family to New Athens so that he can further his artistic vision. Although George has long been skeptical of anything out of the ordinary and is irritated by Jean’s preoccupation with paranormal activity, he eventually realizes that such phenomena do exist when their children begin developing latent psychic abilities, heralding the coming of the Overmind. George is depicted as a very average individual, a representation of the everyman. He is happy to live under the Overlords’ rule—aside from the fact that art has suffered, prompting his move to New Athens. He has no interest in knowing what lies beyond his own world. When George asks Rashaverak why the Overmind has first affected his children, Rashaverak tells him that it could have happened to anyone; he is of no particular significance.As a partner and a father, George is selfish and often petty. As is common in his time, George is frequently unfaithful to Jean, despite her loyalty, until the tragedy of losing their children prompts his love for her to return, moments before their own deaths. George voluntarily dies together with Jean, his arms wrapped around her, when the volcano underneath New Athens explodes. Having lost their children to the Overmind, both George and Jean decide to meet their death with the rest of the colony.
George Greggson Quotes in Childhood’s End
The Childhood’s End quotes below are all either spoken by George Greggson or refer to George Greggson . 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:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
“There’s nothing left to struggle for, and there are too many distractions and entertainments. Do you realize that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over various channels? [...] Soon people won’t be living their own lives anymore.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16
Quotes
The universe was vast, but that fact terrified him less than its mystery. George was not a person who thought deeply on such matters, yet it sometimes seemed to him that men were like children amusing themselves in some secluded playground, protected from the fierce realities of the outer world.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
This was a thought that had never occurred to [George]. He had subconsciously assumed that the Overlords possessed all knowledge and all power—that they understood, and were probably responsible for, the things that had been happening to Jeff.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Childhood’s End LitChart as a printable PDF.
George Greggson Quotes in Childhood’s End
The Childhood’s End quotes below are all either spoken by George Greggson or refer to George Greggson . 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:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
“There’s nothing left to struggle for, and there are too many distractions and entertainments. Do you realize that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over various channels? [...] Soon people won’t be living their own lives anymore.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16
Quotes
The universe was vast, but that fact terrified him less than its mystery. George was not a person who thought deeply on such matters, yet it sometimes seemed to him that men were like children amusing themselves in some secluded playground, protected from the fierce realities of the outer world.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
This was a thought that had never occurred to [George]. He had subconsciously assumed that the Overlords possessed all knowledge and all power—that they understood, and were probably responsible for, the things that had been happening to Jeff.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
