"Such was Catherine Morland at ten. At fifteen, appearances were mending; she began to curl her hair and long for balls; her complexion improved, her features were softened by plumpness and colour, her eyes gained more animation, and her figure more consequence. Her love of dirt gave way to an inclination for finery, and she grew clean as she grew smart; she had now the pleasure of sometimes hearing her father and mother remark on her personal improvement. “Catherine grows quite a good-looking girl—she is almost pretty today,” were words which caught her ears now and then; and how welcome were the sounds! To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive."
Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey (pp. 2-3).
I chose this passage because as a reader it gives you a feel for what type of person Catherine is at an age that is still considered early in life; it allows readers to develop their own interpretation about Catherine Morland. To me, Catherine at age fifteen sounds like she is growing and learning more about life as she becomes a young adult. At age ten, it sounded like Catherine wanted to just be kid and play and not get involved in the extracurricular activities her parents made her do. So this passage gave me the feel that Catherine does have potential to become something extraordinary (the heroine nobody expected her to be since infancy). Also, I think that the remark of "she is almost pretty today" is funny too because Jane Austen tries to emphasize how bland Catherine is but it is showing Catherine changing into something different.
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