“Till this moment I never knew myself.”
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice The assessment of one’s self requires a level of introspection that I am not certain I have. However, one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen, created heroines that I can relate to in every novel. None are as similar to me, though, as Catherine Morland, from Austen’s first novel, Northanger Abbey. Catherine and I share many traits, such as our tendency to over-romanticize, our naivety, and our mutual love of reading. In this way, I truly am Catherine Morland.
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Romantic
For as long as men and
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Her world is quiet town in the country, and her only experience of the outside of it comes from scandalous Gothic novels, giving her exceedingly black and white views of the world. I share in Catherine’s inexperience of the world and her adolescent perceptions of it as well. I believe the world to be split up into black and white, good and bad, right and wrong. However, like Catherine, as I grow, I learn. The world is not split in two, but instead is made up millions of diverse fragments, each a part of the elaborate stained glass window we live our lives in. While I realize this, it doesn’t entirely prevent my immature nature from dominating some aspects of my life, and how I see relationships and events. I will continue to mature and cultivate my mind in order to develop into the woman I know is waiting for me.
“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”
-Roald Dahl,