(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters.)

S: Chapters 21 through 23 are absolutely hilarious! I so enjoyed Austen’s descriptions of Catherine’s imagination going wild and her embarrassment when her fancies ended up being just that. I couldn’t help smiling!

R: When I first started reading Chapter 21, I was impressed that Catherine seemed to have curbed her imagination, but then she sees a ‘mysterious’ chest and wardrobe and her imagination goes wild. General Tilney’s behaviour is still confounding me, one minute severe to his children, the next all generosity and politeness to Catherine. He’d been very stern about them being on time for a meal, then chastises his daughter for rushing Catherine to get ready. Most confusing. 

S: I agree – he is very confusing! 

I very much enjoyed the line, ‘Catherine was probably the only one of the party who did not understand him’ after General Tilney says he expects to purchase a new tea set for someone soon. I laughed aloud for probably a full thirty seconds and, while writing this, am still smiling at it. Her innocence is so fun! Sometimes characters who are extremely innocent annoy me but she does not; she also speaks up for herself and is not flighty. I find her very fun to read.

R: Catherine recovers her sense at the beginning of Chapter 22, but starts to lose it again by the end, imagining all sorts of awful things about General Tilney. She may not be entirely wrong based on what we have seen of apparent two-faced behaviour, but she goes off into flights of fancy far too readily. I actually didn’t catch the reference at first with the tea set, but it sounds like he expects her to marry Henry. He certainly seems to assume that there’s an understanding between them.

S: That was my first thought, but then I was struck with this: does the General want to marry Catherine? Is that why he wanted her to come and stay with them and why his children, particularly Miss Tilney, are embarrassed so often? I suppose it wouldn’t be that uncommon of a thing, especially since this is meant to poke fun at Gothic novels. Although, the General did mention that Henry may find Woodston to be rather dull and seems to be insisting to Catherine that it is a nice home and that it is good for Henry to work, although he doesn’t need to. I am intrigued. 

We finally learn a bit about Mrs. Tilney. I have to say that while I do enjoy reading about Catherine it is sometimes painfully obvious that she has really never suffered a great grief and is still very young. She is convinced that General Tilney did not love his wife, was in fact cruel to her, and may even be keeping her alive unbeknownst to his children, because he does not walk on her favourite walk, nor hang her picture in his room, nor let Eleanor show Catherine Mrs. Tilney’s rooms. In reality, he probably does this out of grief because he truly loved her, but Austen paints such a ridiculous, yet somewhat believable, picture for the reader from Catherine’s imagination that it does make one wonder how this will be resolved. Also, Eleanor’s insistence that a mother would always be around makes me wonder more if Catherine is being considered as a wife for the General. (I enjoy this book so much!)

R: The idea that General Tilney might be considering Catherine as a wife for himself hadn’t occurred to me, and I don’t see it myself. I did chuckle at many of Catherine’s conjectures about Mrs. Tilney and the General’s behaviour. At the same time, while I don’t think he’s anywhere near as bad as Catherine thinks he might be, I believe he might be at least overly authoritarian with his children. I expect to find at the end that Catherine’s imaginings were 100% wrong, however.

S: I would agree with you that Catherine’s imaginings will be completely inaccurate. 

Although Chapter 23 was a bit dull reading for me just because of all the description, I did enjoy that we were given a tour of the grounds and abbey. It is also quite amusing to me that the General hopes Catherine’s family will visit Northanger Abbey in the future and yet Catherine really doesn’t seem to understand the inference.

I appreciated Henry’s gentle rebuke at the end of Chapter 24. He does not seem angry, merely saddened that she should have thought so ill of his father’s and mother’s relationship. I also was very shocked and unnerved at her exploration of Mrs. Tilney’s rooms alone – it was very childish.

R: Catherine definitely takes things too far in going to explore Mrs. Tilney’s rooms by herself, on top of again allowing her imagination to run away with her. I also appreciated how gentle Henry was in his rebuke of her thoughts and behaviour. I hope that Catherine truly takes it to heart. I also learned a new word in Chapter 24: suppositious, meaning substituted for the real thing, or not genuine. I basically understood the meaning from the context, but I wanted to make sure.

S: I love those delicious words! That is definitely one benefit of reading older books – your vocabulary grows exponentially.

As sad as I am to say it, I knew Isabella was deceiving Catherine and only wanted to marry for money. I am happy, though, that Catherine felt able to share the letter from James with Eleanor and Henry as they, mainly Henry, helped her work through what she was feeling. I honestly thought this would have been left until the last couple of chapters, but we still have six chapters to go! At least Catherine has had some experiences that, though uncomfortable, have happened in safe environments and are helping her grow up and have a better understanding of human nature. I do feel sorry for James.

R: The beginning of Chapter 25 made me like Henry even more. He was so generous and kind to Catherine after reprimanding her. I, too, am saddened that we were right in our doubts of Isabella’s constancy. I wonder whether she will try to continue a friendship with Catherine despite the circumstances. I only hope that Catherine has definitely learned her lesson and won’t be drawn in.

S: One of my favourite scenes is when Henry and Eleanor are commenting that Catherine will make for a delightful sister-in-law for Eleanor and Catherine has no idea they are talking of her! I also liked Henry’s observation of Catherine: ‘You feel, as you always do, what is most to the credit of human nature. Such feelings ought to be investigated, that they may know themselves’.

R: I appreciated how compassionate Henry and Eleanor are in first allowing Catherine time to deal with her emotions on her own, but then making themselves available in support once she was ready to share. They show themselves to be true friends in contrast with Isabella.

S: It’s hard to believe we’ll be finished discussing this work in the next post. I have enjoyed it and am excited to see how it will end.