"She reflected on the affair for some time in much perplexity, and was more than once on the point of requesting from Mr. Thorpe a clearer insight into his real opinion on the subject; but she checked herself, because it appeared to her that he did not excel in giving those clearer insights, in making those things plain which had before made ambiguous; and joining to this, the consideration, that he would not really suffer his sister and his friend to be exposed to a danger from which he might easily preserve them, she concluded at last, that he must know the carriage to be in fact perfectly safe, and therefore would alarm herself no longer. " (Page 64, Chapter 9)
It is after the argument of how safe/unsafe the rattle that Catherine's brother, James held, which Mr. Thorpe contradicted himself in his boasting and exaggeration, and after Mr. Thorpe's "endless conceit", that Catherine began to question the opinions about Mr. Thorpe that people around her gave. She finally came to the conclusion that, although her brother and her best friend assured her that Mr. Trorpe would be a great company, she did not find him agreeable at all.
What interested me, was how much weight she gave to her own voices and opinions. This excerpt is one example. When hearing claims and speeches that conflicts themselves, the first doubt was given to Catherine herself. Somehow she placed herself in a second position, where, considering her family and young age, she was more likely to be the one who should be rectified or educated by others. In the end, she gave up her opinions and convinced herself that what other people were saying was more reasonable, and if not, that was due to her lack of knowledge or experience.
So far in my reading, Catherine was still an innocent girl, positioning herself under the expectations of a patriarchal society and classes. She did not seem to have her own ideas formed, or voices heard very often. And I wonder how she would become a so-called "heroine" later in this book.
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