Blog #2 Northanger Abbey

On page 178 Austen writes, “Catherine sometime started at the boldness of her own surmises, and sometimes hoped or feared that she had gone too far; but they were supported by such appearances as made their dismissal impossible.”

This passage embodies the majority of the story, Catherine going back and forth between idleness and acting upon her urges (most always exaggerated in her mind without any factual backing). In the passage it says that events occur that prevent Catherine from ignoring her thoughts, but those occurrences that lead to her further action are often misconstrued in her own head.

I expected Catherine to mature as the story progressed, but no matter what occurred she returned to her natural state of misunderstanding and rumination (which usually left her sad and seeking isolation). I wonder if Austen left Catherine acting in a similar manner throughout the story because the book only spanned 11-12 weeks and that is more realistic.

I think that Austen used this mental dynamic of Catherine’s to provide the reader with a more emotionally riveting and eventful story. If you took out Catherine’s over pondering and investigation into seemingly meaningless actions then you would lose the appeal of the story, following a stream of uneventful relaxation scenes and dinner parties.

The line “sometimes hoped or feared that she had gone too far” is interesting, it shows a level of introspection that we don’t see much of within Catherine throughout the story. Catherine seems to acknowledge her habits but still remains hopelessly vulnerable to these emotional and physical urges that she acts upon.