Northanger Abbey

It's unbelievable (though hilarious) that Catherine would actually go so far to believe that Captain Tilney is a spouse murderer. I applaud Austen for exagerrating it though; she really wants to let her readers know the danger of having one's imagination run away with them. I've definitely been a victim of this, and almost 200 years later I can say "Northanger Abbey" still rings modern enough to my ears.

I believe Jane's timeless writing style, focusing more on accurately relating her character's motivations and feelings, serve her best in modernity. The evocatve effect on the reader, I believe, has not been lost at all in the last two centuries. I think that Catherine had to be so incredibly gullible for "Northanger Abbey" to be as poignant and yet as sweet as it is today.

The Mysteries of Udolpho

"The Mysteries of Udolpho" started out nice and romantic but slowy becme melodramatic and a bit annoying. Emily and her father's sensations and sincerity of heart grate on the nerves of the reader after a while. And all the picturesque scenary and random acts of kindness had me begging for the novel to take it's more Gothic turn sooner than later. In fact I think the story could have let of the majority of the explaination of how Emily lost her parents and was forced to live with her aunt or uncle. If it was only alluded to and explained at the end, the "mysteries" would have turned out a little more rewarding I think.

Evelina

I found Evelina interesting, but not altogether very enjoyable as a result of the main character. Her character, though painted as social conformer, to be very weak. The fact that she relies on Reverend Villars for sensible advice only enhances the fact. Evelina doesn't appear to have much sense, worse she is unable to deal with many matters, and people like Lovel and Willoughby, by herself. I believe Frances Burney has constructed a character up to scratch as far as social conventons are concerned, but the lack of personal development of Evelina is shocking. For me the enjoyment of this novel lessened each time Evelina gave in instead of standng up for herself. I am quite suprised she even managed to get married to Orville; I think this sends a bad message to readers at the time. You cannot simply hope to end up happy if you act passive most of the time.

The Mysteries of Udolpho

This novel leaves practically nothing to the imagination, due to it's very elaborate descriptions. Perhaps that is why I did not find it as frightening as Anne Radcliffe intended it to be. If I didn't know so much about so many of the buildings and landscapes in the novel, and perhaps if I could formulate my own picture of them in my head, I would find them scarier. However, I wonder if anyone reading this novel in the twenty-first century would find it even remotely frightening. Are we that jaded in this century that we don't find castles and black veils scary? Or has technology and those gruesome horror movies that are marketed to us caused us to be less susceptible to fear of structures and locked doors and strange music?

Northanger Abbey

FINALLY!!! A novel with a character I didn't feel like locking in a box and sending down a river. Austen really hit a good note with Catherine UNTIL the second half of the novel. Like most of the novels we have read (well actually, all the novels we have read) Austen neglected her reader and her character for the sake of getting her point across. In the first half of the novel, we saw a witty, interesting and highly realistic character. In the second half, Catherine was reduced to the level of so many insipid female characters we have encountered in literature before. While by the end of the book Catherine is certainly less naive, thankfully, I was extremely disappointed by Austen's choice of storyline to get Catherine to that point. Her behavior in the second half is uncharateristic of the Catherine we see in the first half. She latches on to this idea that General Tilney has murdered his wife because she is so deeply affected by the content of the novels she reads. However, the Catherine of the first half is the antithesis of the other heroines we encountered, and doesn't display any sign of being so incredibly prone to fanciful ideas. Despite this, Catherine was the female character I'd been dying to encounter this entire semester. She certainly was a refreshing break from the limited female characters of the other novels.

Northanger Abbey

This has to be one of my favorite novels that we have read so far. Jane Austen has not been my favorite writer, but a writer where I know that I will for sure enjoy her novels. I love the fact that Catherine is different from the other heroine's. She is a tomboy and she isn't so goregous that people are tricking her into getting kidnapped. She seems normal. She has her bad moments where she binges until she falls asleep, she loves to read, and she likes to chase after boys! What girl doesn't like to do half of those things? Lol. I really enjoyed her and this has to be my favorite out of the entire class.

Mysteries of Udolpho

Blehh! I mean, it wasn't a complete drag. It had its interesting moments like when the door couldn't lock and she felt like something was at the bottom of the stairs, but she couldn't protect herself from it. But then it had other parts like when she went up to the mountains and put her arms up and prayed to the Lord. It just bothered me how feminine she could be at times, faiting when she opened curtains and things such as that. I wanted to just scream "are you kidding me??" but it was only a novel, and it was written in the 18th century so it made me think 'what do you expect'. Not bad, but not my favorite either.