Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [101]

It was Mrs Parsons, the wife of a neighbour on the same floor. (‘Mrs’ was a word somewhat discountenanced by the Party – you were supposed to call everyone ‘comrade’ – but with some women one used it instinctively.) She was a woman of about thirty, but looking much older. One had the impression that there was dust in the creases of her face. — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 101

Note

The ‘dust in the creases of her face’ image recurs verbatim a page later (‘in the better light of the living-room he noticed with interest that there actually was dust in the creases of her face’) — a small observational detail that builds by repetition rather than statement, giving the reader the pleasure of noticing it the second time alongside Winston’s own noticing.