Hey, guys! So I’ve finished “Northanger Abbey”, and I really enjoyed it. I liked the way it balanced a realistic novelistic storytelling style with a parody of overblown fantastical Gothic romance. As always, I’ll be doing a character rundown for you guys.
The protagonist, Catherine Morland, reminds me of myself a bit. She’s good-natured and pleasant to be around, but she is also unskilled in the ways of the world and tends to expect the best of people and therefore she ends up misunderstanding them. Catherine likes reading, although her taste seems to be limited to Gothic romances. The point of the story, however, is for her to learn more about the way people work and to learn that real life is nothing like her favorite stories without losing her cheerful attitude or becoming overly cynical. Her story begins in Bath, a resort town she visits accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Allen, her neighbors. They’re a strange couple. Mr. Allen is intelligent and principled, but Mrs. Allen has absolutely no original thoughts, except for when she’s talking about her clothes. She usually ends up parroting others in conversation and her general apathy frustrates me.
Bath is where Catherine meets John and Isabella Thorpe, who are brother and sister. SPOILER ALERT Isabella becomes friends with Catherine, while John attempts to woo her due to a misconception about the greatness of her fortune. END SPOILER ALERT I was so fascinated by the trickery and machinations of these characters that I had to write out lengthy descriptions of their behavior as I read the book.
For example, to John Thorpe, a “fact” is any statement that suits him or otherwise makes him look good at any particular time, regardless of that statement’s veracity by real-world standards. This is why his “facts” shift so quickly from lie to half-truth as he deems necessary to give him the best appearance at each moment. He changes his mind and contradicts himself so often that it is easy for Catherine and, thusly, the reader to get confused about which of his statements are truthful, is indeed any of them are truthful. His “idle assertions and impudent falsehoods” are born of out his excess of vanity.
Isabella Thorpe is also untrustworthy, like her brother. She makes promises but then proceeds to break them as soon as it becomes advantageous to do so. She uses her charms to cover up her breaking of promises and assorted other misdeeds, suggesting that she is doing these things because others are guilty of instigating her against her own wishes and always painting herself in the best possible light.
Catherine also meets the Tilneys in Bath. Eleanor isn’t especially interesting, although she and Catherine do become good friends. Her elder brother, Henry, has many more specific and interesting traits. He makes clever jokes about his friends’ misuse of vocabulary words or gramatical errors and coaches Catherine in regards to people’s actions. However, he is also very friendly and kind, and even enjoys the same kind of books that Catherine does. SPOILER ALERT His instruction and kindness toward Catherine lead to her falling in love with him. END SPOILER ALERT Henry’s brother, Frederick Tilney seems much less good-natured. We see much less of him than of his younger brother, but Catherine’s observations of him show him to be a carefree jokester, kind of like the playboy persona version of Bruce Wayne, only much much less extravagant. SPOILER ALERT It is his careless flirting combined with Isabella’s vanity that leads to Isabella essentially cheating on her fiancé, Catherine’s brother James, with Frederick in a relationship that comes to nothing. END SPOILER ALERT
Finally, General Tilney, Henry and Eleanor’s father, is a tricky character to understand. This is because Catherine spends the beginning of her acquaintance with him misinterpreting his character to an absurd level. SPOILER ALERT She is so wrapped up in her ideas of Gothic romances because she is staying in an “Abbey” that she begins to think that he either murdered his wife or is keeping her locked up somewhere in the home. These ideas are, of course, absurd and completely false. END SPOILER ALERT However, the General is demanding of his children, insisting that they complete whatever tasks he sets up for them, and is obsessed with money, wealth, and the grandeur afforded by wealth. His every conversation is full of references to his property that point to his being wealthy. SPOILER ALERT He is so obsessed with money that he treats Catherine nicely only because he thinks she is the heir to a large fortune. When he finds out that he was mistaken, he kicks her out of the house and forbids Henry to marry her. END SPOILER ALERT The differences between the Tilneys gives them all a very complex and complicated family dynamic, one that makes for interesting reading, just like all the rest of this book.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve almost completed my quest to read all of Jane Austen’s novels prior to the beginning of the school. Next up is “Persuasion”, after which I will be reading “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”, as the latter work is based on the former. Meanwhile, I finally found out where I’ll be living next school year and I’m still waiting for my Pottermore welcome email. I guess I’ll be off, then. So much to read, so little time!
Facinating how even after over a hundered years, human nature hasn’t changed. There are still Thorpse’s out there…and hopefully Tilneys :D
