“Northanger Abbey” by Jane Austen

Genre: Romance novel/ satire

Pages: 235

Reviewer: Hanni S.

Catherine Morland, a low classed frivolous minded girl, goes on a trip to Bath and becomes aware of the social gaps in life and is quite shocked when horrible tragedies become to her. She gains knowledge and character from her trip. She encounters infatuations, back-stabbing friends, true love, heart break, adventure, and friendship. Everything is thrown out of proportion until it is sorted out and becomes satisfactory.

My opinion of Northanger Abbey was that it was quite interesting and dramatically funny. It had a great twist to it. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about social clashes.

1. The author’s purpose of writing the novel was to show the different life styles and typical gender roles in that time period.

2. The theme was true love is hard to keep because of social status. The thesis was trying to overcome social issues and to just go with the heart and still keep a strong mental state of mind.

3.. Catherine Morland began a state of loving Henry Tilney, but was rudely kicked out of the Tilney estate because the father found out the true social status of her life. She was able to keep calm until she was out of site from the abbey. Yet still, Henry Tilney came back for her and they were engaged. It took a while for General Tilney to consent, but he eventually did.

4. The main issue it raises is that of social status and being in the circle or out of the circle or money in other words. Its stance is that of: it doesn’t matter too much about those material things. The solution was to either pester someone for consenting in giving them money through marriage or breaking the engagements by going after someone richer.