Catherine Morland In Jane Austen's Chapter 1 From Northanger Abbey

The excerpt of “Chapter 1 from Northanger Abbey” by Jane Austen, introduces the reader to the protagonist of the novel, Catherine Morland. Born in the rural town of Fullerton in England, with a big family of modest income, Catherine is presented as an unremarkable, plain-looking child that was never interested enough to be proficient at whatsoever. Although all of her characteristics diverge from what an heroine profile should be, the author continually emphasizes that she would become one; this being the main topic. At the age of ten, Jane Asuten describes the girl’s demeanor as “noisy and wild, hated confinement and cleanliness, and loved nothing so well in the world as rolling down the green slope at the back of the house" (27). As she enters

her teenage years, however, her features develop and her interests change. She has now preference for reading and yields her preceding tomboyish hobbies: “Her love of dirt gave way to an inclination for finery, and she grew clean and smart; she had now the pleasure of sometimes hearing her father and mother remark on her personal improvement” (27). Since women from the nineteenth century were the intended audience, the author appeals for pathos when saying that Catherine has yet to meet her “amiable youth” (29). Acknowledged about that, her neighbors, the Allens, invite her on a trip to the town of Bath. It can be foreshadowed that she will encounter that love of interest in the trip and that meeting someone will turn her into a heroine.