Academy Award winning actress, Viola Davis, once said that the stories of ordinary people can be the most compelling. This is because most people are ordinary and so they relate to people like themselves in literature and art. In Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Austen uses sarcasm, understatements and characterization of Catherine’s family to characterize Catherine as ordinary and plain. After describing the way Catherine looks, Austen explains that she only goes in gardens to create mischief. This is described as one of her “propensities” and it is said that “her abilities were quite extraordinary”. Because there is nothing extraordinary about picking flowers that are forbidden, this sarcastic sentence implies that there is nothing extraordinary
Janes nearest of kin were her grandmother and her aunt, both of them lived a humble life and hardly had a sufficient income. Her aunt Miss Bates was a very popular and always welcomed person, although she was “neither young, handsome, rich nor married” (cf. Emma p.22). She cares for her mother, Jane’s grandmother, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury and together they live in a small and simple home.
, Austen’s utilisation of dramatic irony makes it clear to readers that Emma was wrong about Mr. Elton’s feelings for Harriet. Her employment of Emma playing a matchmaker and hurting Harriet in the process just for her benefit and entertainment affirms the idea that women don’t have boundaries and are constantly sticking their noses in other people’s business.
In Northanger Abbey, Henry is painted as the perfect person in Catherine’s perspective because while he understands the rules of society, he is able to manoeuvre them to act in his favour. Catherine sees him as a model of who she desires to be as she enters the upper class. By the end of the novel she is able to interpret to what extent to follow the societal expectations and understand when to keep her own values. In the end Catherine has a happy ending, as “Austen is often happy to follow the Cinderella plot, and to make a happy ending out of marrying her heroine to a man notably above her in income and social prestige.” (McMaster 117)
In Jon Hassler Grand Opening, Catherine Foster is righteous in her actions but is not given the means to obtain it. After a while, Catherine shows an interest in Wallace Flint’s companionship and wants what 's best for him. While Catherine went downstairs to put a kettle on for tea and spoke to Hank Foster, “It was a stroke of luck, Wallace volunteering work for nothing more than a meager supply of groceries. She argues on Wallace’s behalf: he would help us get acquainted with the villagers. Seeing he knew every last person in town, everything about them.”
How is Catherine unique? In the book, Rules by Cynthia Lord, Catherine was the main character who faced many challenges throughout the book. She has a mom who does not really understand her problems. Her dad does not really play a big role in the story. These challenges often include his little brother, David, messing up things.
so special about them?’ The woman shrugged, turning back to her washing,” (131). The audience, witnessing Hang as both a child and an adult, can clearly identify the similarity between the old woman and Hang’s views. Although Hang continues to see them as “special” to her, the audience understands that Hang is no longer limited to the flower itself, now she sees the environment in which the flower thrives, “stagnant, oily bogs flecked with bubbles from rotting algae…the mud, the decomposing toads, the dead fish, their scales gone black, their scorched carcasses twisted into arches,”
Jane Austen’s use of character foils is possibly the most interesting. Mr. Darcy has more than one character that contradicts his, for example, Mr. Wickham and Mr. Bingley both contrast different parts of Mr. Darcy’s character, further emphasizing those distinct parts. Austen’s mocking tone made the novel far more interesting than a run of the mill romance novel. It is the 18th century version of a rom-com
Jane Austen wrote about two main characters that broke societal roles that should have been upheld. She put her personal beliefs of how Darcy broke out of this expectation when meeting the Bennets. Darcy was originally characterized as too prideful, based on his approachable manner at the dance, therefore giving a negative first impression to the Bennet family. Nonetheless, Elizabeth eventually chooses to let herself form her own opinion of Darcy. She also let herself open up to the idea of having a new perspective of him.
Kate the Great Literary Analysis In the short story Kate the Great by Meg Cabot, Jenny proves that you should stand up for yourself. Jenny had so many hopes for her first babysitting job but it all changes because of her former friend Kate. Kate and Jenny were friends in middle school, but it all changes when the reach high school. So one day, Jenny received an opportunity to babysit the Weinmanns.
IWA: Northanger Abbey The character Catherine Morland from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a usual and ordinary little girl. Starting off in the beginning of the passage, Austen notes that in her later years she is known as a “heroine”, however Morland’s childhood is remarked as not out of the ordinary and pleasant. As the passage continues, Austen begins to describe the traits of Catherine Morland such as abilities, likes and dislikes, and physique.
Unexperienced, uninformed, and of the age to marry, she goes to visit the touristy town of Bath with her rich aunt and uncle, where she forms a friendship with the flirty Isabella Thorpe, who gets engaged to James Morland, Catherine’s brother, Isabella’s obnoxious brother, John Thorpe, who brags immensely, and despite treating her with little respect, is sure that he and Catherine will eventually marry, and the Tinsley Siblings: the sweet Elanor and witty Henry, the latter on which she develops a crush. Catherine’s stay at Bath expires when the Tinsley’s and their seemingly kind father, General Tinsley, invite her to return to their home at Northanger Abbey with them. Extremely imaginative, and influenced by her beloved Gothic novels, Catherine fantasizes about Northanger, filled with murders, and scandals, waiting for her to uncover them. Upon arriving, Northanger disappoints Catherine in that it lacks the eerie ambiance that characterizes the setting of a gothic novel. Falsely assuming that the General has his supposedly dead wife locked up, Catherine uses her imagination to create a horrific story that Henry quickly rebukes and tells her the sad truth of his mother’s completely natural death.
and Miss Tilney develop with good intentions, yet her immaturity change the dynamics to become more of a doting relationship. In both instances when Catherine meets the Tilneys for the first time, she is polite and conversational, but Catherine also “was desirous of being acquainted with [Miss Tilney]” (Austen 50). In Catherine’s meeting of the Tilneys, she possesses an element of her immaturity, as her emotions and attention scatter back and forth between the Tilneys and the Thorpes. Her attachments to both women, Isabella Thorpe and Miss Tilney, display Catherine’s childlike admiration and naive adoration. In the argument of the argument of Waldo Glock, he refers Catherine to have an “impressionable mind occasionally interpret[ing] scenes at Bath in the light of her reading of Gothic romance" (Glock 33).
3.2 Characters Considering the typical Gothic characters, Northanger Abbey presents them all, although altered for the purpose of creating a parody. There is a heroine, a hero and a villain. However, there are no ordinary people or servants to provide comic relief or to comment on the events. Catherine Morland is the main character. The very first sentence of the novel is: “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.”
Austen seems to suggest that getting at the truth about ourselves and others not only takes time but also a considerable amount of unintended patience. But once we accept the truth about ourselves and others, this can perhaps only makes matters more difficult. Firstly, the individual opinion of Mr. Darcy by Elizabeth is not a very favorable one, for she sees Mr. Darcy as nothing more than a wealthy pompous upperclassman. And, by most standards, her opinion of him is fairly accurate.
In an article from The Chicago Tribute, “A musical 'Northanger Abbey' captures Austen's charm” by Chris Jones, makes me feel very pleased about how Jane Austen’s work is perceived as great literary work. The reporter does mention that Catherine is a representation of women’s hopes and dreams. Which I would disagree with, I think Catherine represents the innocence of young adult girls in the 1800s. In the second article from The New York Times, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night Val McDermid’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ by JO Baker, shows that Catherine’s reading of gothic novels gives her an unrealistic perspective on her current reality. I was surprised to see the reporters view on Catherine portrayed as an immature girl.