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Claude is Hugo’s uncle. He is a mean drunk who takes Hugo in after the death of his father. Claude disappears one day and does not come back. At the end of the story, Hugo learns he drowned in the river, probably because he was drunk. Before his death, Claude maintained the clocks at the train station and taught Hugo how to do the same.
Claude Quotes in The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The The Invention of Hugo Cabret quotes below are all either spoken by Claude or refer to Claude. 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:
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Part 1, Chapter 5: Hugo’s Father Quotes
And so Hugo began working all day in the dark on clocks. He had often imagined that his own head was filled with cogs and gears like a machine, and he felt a connection with whatever machinery he touched. He loved learning how the clocks in the station worked, and there as a kind of satisfaction in knowing how to climb through the walls and secretly repair the clocks without anyone seeing him.
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Dogs barked in the distance, and the rumblings of the street cleaners pierced the quiet of the night. Where was Hugo supposed to go? What was he supposed to do? He had no one. Even the automaton was dead.
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Part 2, Chapter 9: The Ghost in the Station Quotes
“Remember the drunken old Timekeeper of the station?” continued Madame Emile. “It was him! Dead for years!”
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Claude Character Timeline in The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The timeline below shows where the character Claude appears in The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 2: The Clocks
...of tools, a deck of cards, some drawings, and a stack of uncashed paychecks with Hugo’s uncle ’s name on them.
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Part 1, Chapter 5: Hugo’s Father
...for his father to return home. However, he never does. The next morning, Hugo’s Uncle Claude knocks on the door. When Hugo opens the door, he finds Claude reeking of alcohol....
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Hugo barely registers what Claude says. He packs up his possessions in a daze, including the notebook his father gifted...
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Claude tells Hugo that he will serve as his apprentice in taking care of the clocks....
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...station. He loves the job and finds it satisfying, but his living conditions are poor. Claude is unkind and makes Hugo sleep on the floor. Plus, there is rarely any food...
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Claude starts disappearing for longer and longer stretches of time, until eventually he does not return...
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...over. However, he is glad he brought the automaton home, although he worries about what Claude will say.
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...problems to worry about. Staying at the train station alone could be dangerous and if Claude comes back, it is unlikely he will let him keep the automaton. Not knowing what...
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...Hugo is in his room looking at the automaton. It has been three months since Claude left and did not come back. In that time, Hugo has made a lot of...
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Part 2, Chapter 7: The Visit
...make matters worse, he finds a note from the Station Inspector asking to meet with Claude. That night, Hugo has a nightmare about a train accident that happened in the station...
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Part 2, Chapter 9: The Ghost in the Station
...café. While at the café, he hears two people talking about how the police found Claude’s body in the river. They wonder if the station is haunted because the clocks keep...
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Part 2, Chapter 10: A Train Arrives in the Station
The Station Inspector asks Hugo to tell him everything he knows. Hugo explains that Claude is dead, and that he has been tending to the clocks by himself. At first,...
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