Northanger Abbey

Volume 1, Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. Fashion (Chapter 2)

2. Catherine’s eldest brother/James (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. Catherine is a young woman raised in a clergyman’s large family in the countryside. In general, she has no particular accomplishments and is thoroughly ordinary, aside from her passionate love for Gothic romance novels. (Chapter 1)

2. She attends a ball in Bath with the Allens, and the ball’s master of ceremonies introduces her to Henry. (Chapter 3)

Volume 1, Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. Clergymen (Chapter 5)

2. John and James/their brothers (Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. After telling Catherine that she is attracted to sallow men with light eyes, Isabella makes Catherine promise not to mention this should they meet any men of this description. (Chapter 6)

2. He engages Catherine for a dance but then disappears for a long while, leaving her unable to accept Henry’s request for a dance. When John finally reappears, he does not apologize for essentially abandoning her. (Chapter 8)

Volume 1, Chapters 9-12

Reading Check

1. General Tilney/Henry’s father (Chapter 10)

2. John (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. John and Isabella show up at the Allens’ house and insist that Catherine previously agreed to join them for a carriage ride. Not wanting to be rude, she joins them, and while she is out, Mrs. Allen goes to the Pump-Room without her and runs into the Tilneys there. (Chapter 9)

2. He expresses the opinion that it must be James’s own fault if, with all his wealth, he cannot afford a good horse. (Chapter 11)

Volume 1, Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. It is improper. (Chapter 13)

2. Maria/the Thorpes’ younger sister (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. Catherine is outraged and breaks away from the Thorpes so that she can run to the Tilneys’ house and set the record straight. (Chapter 13)

2. Isabella says that she is worried about the difference in their fortunes and offers the opinion that James would be able to marry anyone he likes; both comments hint that she believes the Morland family is wealthy. (Chapter 15)

Volume 2, Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. The home’s Gothic qualities (Chapter 2)

2. Henry (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. She claims that she does not want to attend because James will not be there and she does not wish to dance with anyone other than James. But she does attend the ball, and furthermore, she dances with Frederick Tilney. (Chapter 1)

2. When Isabella keeps glancing at the door, Catherine charitably assumes that Isabella is hoping to see James. But when Frederick appears, the reader understands that it is Frederick whom Isabella has been anxiously awaiting. (Chapter 3)

Volume 2, Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. A chest (Chapter 6)

2. Eleanor and Henry’s mother/the General’s deceased wife (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. From Henry’s perspective, Northanger Abbey may be large and old, but it is a modernized building and his family home, not the spooky Gothic edifice of Catherine’s imagination. (Chapter 5)

2. Catherine’s snooping in the black and yellow cabinet leads to her finding a paper that she imagines may be a mysterious manuscript. Since her candle blows out just then, she passes a restless night before finding out, in the morning light, that the paper is merely a laundry bill. (Chapters 6 and 7)

Volume 2, Chapters 9-12

Reading Check

1. Isabella and James’s broken engagement (Chapter 10)

2. Convince James to resume their engagement (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. Henry points out that his mother died from an illness she had been known to suffer from in the past and that he and his brother—as well as Mrs. Tilney’s doctor—were there at the time of her death. He says that they are modern English people, Christians, and that if anything untoward had happened, many people would know about it. (Chapter 9)

2. The General believes that her lack of effusive praise is due to her dissatisfaction with the village, but, in truth, Catherine is overwhelmed with the village’s beauty. (Chapter 11)

Volume 2, Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. Time alone with Catherine (Chapter 15)

2. Eleanor and her husband (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. Not only does Catherine prepare to leave immediately, despite her confusion and lack of financial resources for the return journey, but when Eleanor asks Catherine to write to her using a false name, Catherine initially refuses, as she does not want to defy General Tilney’s wishes by sneaking her letters past him. (Chapter 13)

2. Catherine worries that her family will react emotionally and be insulted by General Tilney’s behavior. Their response is more pragmatic than emotional, however—they agree that General Tilney was rude to eject Catherine so unceremoniously, but her mother points out that Catherine probably learned valuable skills by having to get home all by herself. (Chapter 14)