Catherine Morland In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

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In order to understand the depth of a novel, we must understand the depth of its characters. Jane Austen's 1818 novel Northanger Abbey opens his literary adventure by introducing the character of Catherine Morland. He strategically uses her simple, middle-class background to dismiss her as an average and, at times, hopeless young girl who would rather follow her own path and let her imagination run wild than live up to her parents' expectations. Austen then concludes the passage with praise, emphasizing a sense of empathy for the young girl who customarily shunned that facilitates young readers to connect with Morland.

When Austen informs us that Morland's father "was a clergyman, without being neglected or poor . . . and he had never been handsome" and Morland's mother "was a woman of useful plain sense," we immediately expect little of Morland. Austen's uses the phrases "without being neglected or poor" and "plain" to connect Morland to her parents and accentuate that Catherine Morland is nothing more than an “plain,” boilerplate girl that has stemmed from a "plain" family. Austen even mocks "her abilities [that] were quite as extraordinary" because Morland could "nmever learn or understand anything before she was taught, and sometimes not even then, for she was often …show more content…
Even though "she learnt the fable of 'The Hare and Many friends,' as quickly as any girl in England," she lacked the ability to excel in her studies and despised her music lessons. Morland's mother allowed this absence of music considering"[h]er mother wished her to learn music . . . [she] did not insist on her daughters being accomplished." This specific detail notes that Morland's mother expects little to nothing of her daughter, and does not apprehend very much of her. Austen reveals that nobody has lofty expectations for Morland and even her loved ones tend to discredit her

Catherine Morland In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

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Northanger Abbey: Romantic Essentials Jane Austen’s novel, “Northanger Abbey,” is about a young girl, Catherine Morland, whom had to learn to distinguish between manipulative or arrogant love and love of a more caring and respective variety. Readers observe Catherine’s intellectual development and growth throughout the story. As a young adolescent she does not have the knowledge a normal girl her age should have. She gets an opportunity to experience fashionable a society for the first time located…

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