Northanger Abbey
I keep meaning to write @thelonelybrilliance a whole northanger abbey meta because it is one of my favorites and also because every time it comes up she seems so genuinely eager to hear my thoughts and that THRILLS ME-
(No really, in all of her tags Emma is like “Maria, convince me.” I LOVE IT.)
So after putting it off long enough, here I go!
These are just my feelings.
Northanger Abbey is really special to me for a lot of reasons and one of them is that I believe, like @fictionadventurer pointed out with mansfield park (which made me want to reread it IMMEDIATELY), that it is a coming of age story more than a romance. Though I guess, like all Jane Austen’s, it’s both.
Catherine is really young- she starts and ends the novel at 17- and the book is about her growing up and what she learns along the way and none of what she learns is one thing. But the thing that I think she learns the most is how to tell false friends from true and how to get herself out of toxic relationships while clinging more firmly to those which will lift her up and help her be a better person.
I relate to that so much. My mom always says this thing that goes “people who say what they mean expect everyone else to mean what they say” and that is exactly Catherine’s (and quite often my) situation. She has other flaws- she’s young, she’s naive, she lets her imagination run away with her- but one of her defining characteristics is that she’s sincere, and sometimes to a fault. This is due as much to her age as it is to her personality (she’s really, really young and she’s lived a pretty sheltered life) but it’s also a big part of her personality. Someone tells her that they are her friend- she believes them! Someone tells her that they are in love with her- she believes that too! She’s completely guileless. She never suspects anybody of being a liar or manipulative because she isn’t one herself.
Part of growing up is learning that that’s not the case- that people don’t treat you exactly as you treat them, that some people are liars, that some are users, that, more broadly, everyone is not you and doesn’t see the world as you do. Believing endlessly in people who continually let you down doesn’t do anybody any good. Over the course of Northanger, Catherine learns that; she really, really learns that lesson down to the depths of her heart. It transforms her as a person. She moves from innocent, naive girl to a young woman no less soft-hearted but much more clear-eyed and firm.
Her lesson presents itself in her experience with two families specifically- the Tilneys and the Thorpes. When she comes to Bath they are the two families she meets and Catherine spends the first half of the novel being pulled between them
(like sometimes literally, remember when the Tilneys ask her to go for a walk and then Isabella and John and her brother practically force her into coming to Blaise castle with them? I love that moment SO FREAKING MUCH because a) I have LIVED that moment and b) it’s such a perfect literal, physical representation of what’s happening in her soul while being so common and awkward and ordinary and UGH I LOVE IT)
and the SECOND half of the novel learning how to choose between them. Catherine is a girl with a good heart and good instincts. As a reader, you know that she likes the Tilneys better than the Thorpes even if Catherine (oblivious, sweet summer child that she is) doesn’t. You can see it in how she comes to life when she’s around them, in how she rises to the challenge of their teasing and to the heights of their conversation (not that their conversations are absurdly high but markedly above that of the Thorpes), in how she practically sparkles when she’s with them (and I include Eleanor in this as well as Henry). But it’s hard because the Thorpes profess such genuine love for her (Isabella is always continually calling her my sweetest friend etc. and John never shuts up about how beautiful she is) and people always mean what they say, right? RIGHT?
But they don’t. And so Catherine has to learn to look at people’s actions instead of just their words and has to see where someone’s actions and words line up and where they contradict each other. When confronted with evidence and bolstered by her friendship with the Tilneys, Catherine does so pretty easily. She’s naive and good-hearted and young and oblivious but she isn’t stupid. She has a very clear mind and I appreciate that. There’s a moment in the book where she receives Isabella’s letter, written to explain away why she broke Catherine’s brother James’ heart, and Catherine has a beautiful moment of clarity and fury where she realizes, basically- “WOW, she was never my friend.” It’s gorgeous, I love it.
That’s a harder thing than people realize. If you have a soft heart by nature, believing that people are cruel takes courage and it takes practice. It’s as hard or harder than a cruel person learning to be kind. Catherine learns that lesson and puts it into practice- she severs the tie with Isabella herself by refusing to respond- and that’s so special to me.
NOW ON TO THE LOVE PART OF THE STORY
(under the cut because this is already much longer than intended)
I am so genuinely delighted by this love story even though I understand why it’s not everyone’s favorite. (For one , it’s not everyone’s exact type of love and I don’t think it will ever be fully Emma’s and that’s okay. :D) but it’s definitely more beautiful than people think. You just have to be a little patient with it and accept it for what it is and more importantly for what it is not. It’s not P&P.)
The main reason people don’t passionately love this romance (I think) (one of them anyway) is because Jane Austen is very realistic about it. And she kind of teases her reader a little. There’s a really important part of the book where she talks about how the reality is that Henry would never have thought of Catherine romantically if it wasn’t perfectly clear that she viewed him that way. Jane goes on to say something like “I know this is dreadfully degrading to my heroine” but *insert shrug emoji*. This isn’t Darcy falling in love with Elizabeth LITERALLY against his will and character (etc.) which is, you know, a pretty intoxicating idea considering his wealth, status, and temperament. It’s not Wentworth angrily in love for seven years or Mr. Knightley quietly loving Emma in secret. It’s not even Edward Ferrars who falls for Eleanor pretty quickly. It’s the other way around. It’s the girl falling in love first and essentially initiating the romance herself.
As much as I love that Jane Austen teases her reader about this being degrading, it really, really, really isn’t. And actually, the closer you look the sweeter and (I genuinely hate this word but it fits) empowering??? the romance actually is. Catherine is, as we’ve said, completely open and completely guileless. She doesn’t know how to lie or manipulate. She is always wholly herself and she doesn’t hide that. She wouldn’t know how to hide her interest in Henry if she was aware that she *should*. And really, why should she?
Henry is charming, smart, and “if not handsome, very near it” (FAVE LINE) He’s also kind. OF COURSE she’s going to like him and, considering her temperament, of course it’s going to show. But just because her openness kicks off the romance, that doesn’t mean that Henry was ever anyone’s for the taking and that Catherine just happened to be there, willing it to happen. In fact, I think quite the opposite. He’s a kind person who likes to have fun but he’s sharp and he has high standards. He was never going to fall for just anyone. (Seriously, imagine Isabella trying to win him over with her wiles. He would shut her down SO FAST.) He likes Catherine immediately and enjoys her company. It’s just not love at first sight. He’s not swept off his feet (which is honestly perfectly fine.) The romance comes from the fact that the longer he’s around her, the more he gets to know her, the harder he falls. And before he knows it, he’s fully ready- heart completely in hand- to be with her forever. That’s a big deal and romantic and how it happens is romantic too. Because…
Catherine disarms him. Not with what she knows (Jane tells us pointedly that her education is lacking- which is a different thing than being stupid btw), but with who she is. Her sincerity, her goodness, her openness catch him off guard and I do think that he very genuinely falls in love with her. And yes there’s the whole thing with her imagination running away with her and her making up stories about his dad, and yes he chides her for it and yes she runs sobbing to her room in pain (sidenote: have I ever in my entire life related or sympathized with a character more?? i have not. that moment breaks me open because oh damn. I have lived that. LIVED THAT) but the SECOND SHE COMES OUT OF HER ROOM DISTRESSED WITH HER OWN FOOLISHNESS he does everything he possibly can to be gentle with her. There’s this line Jane uses that just SHOOTS me through the heart and it goes something like “There was no change in Henry’s manner towards her throughout the evening, except he was rather more gentle with her than normal.” I JUST. *bawls for thousands of years*
And yeah, look. I get it. That moment stings our (the female reader’s) pride. Why is it his job to correct her mistake?? Why can’t it be Lizzy bringing proud Darcy to his knees?? But it can’t be that all the time. It shouldn’t be. If a woman is going to be a fully realized character she’s going to have faults too, and she’s not the only one allowed to bring about profound change on someone’s character. And everybody’s flaws are not romantic. Catherine is young and she’s foolish, as most young people are. She’s also deeply innocent and the months she’s spent in Bath and the books she’s been reading have been a huge awakening for her. It’s completely understandable why she lets herself concoct a story. It’s an easy trap. Besides, Henry tells her very explicitly that though the stories were wrong, the instinct guiding her was true. Catherine understood the dynamic at the heart of Northanger Abbey and with her childish imagination concocted a story for it. Moving away from the imagination’s pitfalls leaves Catherine with only deep, strong, and true instincts- a combination Henry sees and loves.
To sum up this rather rambling passage, Catherine’s fault is not a “romantic” one. It’s embarrassingly real, but Henry’s love for her in spite of and because of her flaws is not embarrassing at all. It’s completely, sincerely whole and beautiful. The whole book is full of these little darts of his tenderness and gentleness towards her
(HEYO ANYONE REMEMBER THAT MOMENT WHEN CATHERINE GETS A LETTER FROM JAMES ABOUT HIS BREAKUP WITH ISABELLA AND SHE STARTS CRYING AND HENRY IS SO UPSET HE CAN’T REALLY BEAR IT???? AND HE TELLS HER EARNESTLY THAT WHATEVER TROUBLE JAMES IS IN HAVING SUCH A SISTER MUST BE A GREAT COMFORT YOUU GUYYYYYYYS HE LOVES HER I’M CRYING)
but it’s also not even JUST THAT. It’s not just tenderness or protectiveness (which aren’t necessarily romantic and which could be felt in non-romantic relationships). It’s the tenderness united with respect and appreciation for her good qualities- her genuineness, her goodness, her TRUTH. And all of that is tied together by the fact that, again, she just disarms him. Henry’s a clever guy. He’s sharp. He can play the game, any game, you want him to. But Catherine doesn’t really play games and so he just falls. He really does. This isn’t a book about a guy “settling” for a girl because she chose him. This is a story about a guy who meets a girl who simply and directly chooses him and then going “OH WOW. I’m in love now”.
K, so example time.
One of my FAVORITE moments in the entire book is right after the Blaise Castle incident. The Set up is that Catherine was supposed to go on a walk with the Tilneys but then the Thorpes bully her into going with them instead (yes she should have stood up to them but she’s growing you guys, she’s learning) and so it looks to the Tilneys like she blew them off. They see each other at the opera and it’s clear that Henry is hurt, and he treats her coldly. Catherine is so upset by this that she can barely stay in her seat. She runs after him and his sister to give her most heartfelt apologies and oh boy, are they heartfelt. She’s all hurt, she’s all sincerity, she’s so wounded that she’s wounded them (and him) and YOU GUYS. He just melts. He can’t even handle pretending to be mad at her because she’s just so. damn. cute and earnest.
Jane says something like “Is there a Henry in the world who could resist such an apology? Henry at least could not and he relented immediately etc.” (paraphrase) (but what a good line right)
Point is: she breaks down his walls and defenses incredibly quickly, and there is something very strong and powerful about how direct she is with her feelings. She never tricks him into loving her. Catherine doesn’t know how to play that game; all she can do is be herself. So what she does, unconsciously I think, is make him see her, really see her, and when he does, he falls. Pretty hard and fast. And to me that’s definitely romantic. Jane’s sense of fun and irony (she’s at her most teasing in here) can sometimes make it difficult to find the romance the way we think of it, and it does look different than the archetype of romance we’re perhaps used to, but it’s definitely there. And it’s beautiful!
That’s all.
