jennausten

[jennausten]

[jennausten]

I made this Tik Tok following a new trend when creators move their eyes in beat with the music (harder than I initially predicted). When I read on page 153, “But Polly still looked from James to Sarah, Sarah to James, and back again. She knew something was afoot. It had to do with the morning’s cold bed, the dark circles beneath both pair of eyes,” I immediately thought of this Tik Tok and I felt that this aligned with our discussion in class today about how Longbourn synced with Pride and Prejudice. In class, we noted how the characters upstairs were being mirrored by the characters downstairs and I wanted to further this idea to say that the symbols were also mirrored. I remember how we discussed a lot about the way Mr. Darcy and Lizzy would look at each other and have their eyes be fixed and how that also symbolized the way they changed perspectives in which Lizzy looked past her prejudice and Mr. Darcy looked past his pride. I felt that the symbol of eyes was also highlighted in Longbourn in many ways but specifically one that plays into Sarah and James’s relationship in a different way.

On page 157, Sarah describes Mrs. Hill’s sponge cake which should would never let herself look at because she couldn’t have it and “even to glance at the cake was an impossible agony,” but then comes to realize that, “for months…James had hardly looked at her at all.” This scene prompted me to recall how bottled up Mr. Darcy was to his feelings about Elizabeth, trying to repress them until he could no longer and had to declare his love for her. The use of the word “agony” really dramatized this idea of not having cake and I feel as though Jane Austen would sneer at this sarcastically if she found that her character tropes were being compared to a girl’s desire for cake. I did find it interesting that Sarah compared her temptation to the cake with James’s love for her because that cake was meant for the elite characters, such as the Bennet’s so it’s interesting to consider why James believed Sarah was so highly above himself, especially because James continuously follows Sarah in the shadows such as when she rode on the carriage with Tol or when she almost took her midnight leave from Longbourn. Sarah and James go back and forth between fixing on each other and avoiding each other which creates an interesting dynamic between them two.

In the aforementioned scene, it underscores the Sarah and James could be mirroring Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, pairing them together, however, this time we have Polly, an outsider looking in to speculate on their relationship. Sarah and James aren’t swapping perspectives in this case but rather, I think this puts them on the same side. Perhaps they don’t butt heads like Lizzy and Mr. Darcy do because since they are both downstairs characters, it allows them to find themselves aligning with each other. 

The more I read, the more I’m noticing eyes, such as Sarah’s description of Mr. Wickham’s “knowing eyes. Eyes that seemed to not see just the surface of things, not just the clothes, the outward aspect, the veneer: eyes that saw through all of that and knew everything that went on underneath, (164)” or when Elizabeth looks Sarah up and down, taking in her dress or even when characters are described to be looking at something. I’m curious to what Jo Baker is doing with the idea of eyes and the way she connects the characters through it.

[jennausten]

I found this meme that places Jane Austen’s female characters on a triangle in terms of their responses to children yelling “McDonalds! McDonalds! McDonalds!” I found this really interesting since we have constantly drew out a line to see where each of them stand relative to each other in terms of outgoing-ness and their heroine-ness. In regards to Fanny, she’s placed next to Elinor and is expected to say “we have food at home,” and I don’t necessarily agree with that placement. I think Elinor definitely is realistic and has rationality when it comes to these decisions but I think Fanny can barely take care of herself, much rather make a decision or force the children to eat what is at home. I would actually place Fanny in the corner with Catherine Moorland and Marianne Dashwood, not because she would be enthusiastic about going to McDonalds but rather the idea that she would be peer pressured into it. 

While Fanny can get fired up and angry as we saw in her little soliloquy., I still don’t believe she has much spine in her to voice her opinion even if her status with the Bertrams wasn’t on the line. We discussed in class how Fanny has been “playing the game” and ended up getting what she wanted in the end but I don’t really see it in a way where she “got” what she wanted. I think she was stuck with what was leftover after the Bertram family chaos and it turned out to be what she wanted. Like Eva mentioned, I also don’t really like the trope of “she was right there in front of you the whole time” for Edmund and it’s seems to me that Fanny was his second choice. Throughout the novel, Fanny has always seemed to be second choice. I further believe that she wasn’t “playing the game” because she almost considered marrying Henry and even wished that she loved him so that she could show Susan an estate. To me, it seems that Fanny is always picking up the scraps (so maybe in that case she would be advocating for the leftovers at home instead of McDonalds).

I definitely agree that the Austen heroines have very different energies and its interesting to see the messages Jane Austen is trying to make through their actions. I feel as though Jane Austen wouldn’t vouch for marriage and these different character traits for her heroines support the idea of no matter who you are or what personality you support, marriage shouldn’t be your end goal (even though that’s what these women achieve in the end, ironically.)

honestly the austen heroines have some wildly different energies between them

[jennausten]

I made this Tik Tok based on our class discussion about triangular relationships, specifically the one between Fanny, Edmund, and Henry. We spoke in class on how cruel and evil it was for Henry to play with Fanny’s heart just because there are no other girls around for him to manipulate and he wants the challenge of making her fall in love with him just to crush her (cue Fanny Protection Squad). However, it reminded me of all the tropes of one character not wanting to be in love with another and just being a menace flirting with them but ultimately ending up falling in love with them, which is what I feel happens between Henry and Fanny. The sound for this Tik Tok is from Taylor Swift’s song and the Tik Tok community has been using it to show how heart wrenching Taylor Swift’s lyrics are. I found this to be fitting to Henry’s position because while he wants to break Fanny’s heart in the beginning. After spending more time flirting with her, he finds that it had the opposite effect that he intended and ends up completely in love with her, only to be crushed because she won’t marry him. I don’t believe that Henry was completely using William to get to Fanny but was also charmed by William and looked up to him; I think he recognized both William and Fanny’s values which makes him fall in love with how different they carry themselves (such as with principle) than from those such as Julia or Maria. However, I’m still uneasy of Henry’s intentions and have an internal battle with myself because of situations such as Henry telling Sir Thomas that Fanny approved of their match which was very manipulative and regressed my improving thoughts about Henry but then also seeing his charms through how he pays attention to Fanny. 

[jennausten]

In this tiktok, the creator claims that Edmund is the protagonist of Mansfield Park for reasons such as having good intentions but doing bad things, is oblivious to what’s in front of him, is in a love triangle, grows throughout the novel and has a big realization at the end of the novel. I found this interesting and prompted me to recall the discussion we had in our class about how Fanny was described. She is meek and mild and incredibly forgettable. We also get little to none of her independent thoughts throughout the novel. When recalling other protagonist such as Elizabeth Bennet or Elinor Dashwood, we are constantly in their thoughts and rationales. It gets to the point where when Elinor reveals to Marianne what she is going through or when Elizabeth tells Jane that she is going to marry Mr. Darcy, both Marianne and Jane are shocked but this was something the reader has seen coming already. We have little access to Fanny’s thoughts except the fact that she gets abandoned a lot. On the contrary, we know more about Edmund’s thoughts, although they are presented a little more indirectly than how we are presented Elinor or Elizabeth’s thoughts. For example, we see the way Edmund debates over joining the play and acting to prevent his family and friend’s reputation from being tainted. His silence also speaks volumes and we can almost imagine what he’s thinking when Mary is insulting the clergy profession without knowing that Edmund was planning on being a clergyman or when he was angry with Mrs. Norris for calling Fanny ungrateful. We can almost “mad-lib” a similar rationale that someone like Elinor might have. Similar to how other protagonists, like Elizabeth, go against the general grain, such as marrying for money, Edmund does the same. He is in conflict between his morals and his emotions such as when he stops fighting against the play when he learns that Mary wanted to take part in it.

While I was looking at Edmund Bertram tiktoks, I couldn’t help but notice how many tiktoks were hating on him and favoring Henry Crawford instead. That was surprising to me because I found Henry to be quite menacing and manipulative, similar to John Thorpe and I don’t think anyone liked John Thorpe so to find fans liking Henry Crawford was interesting. I mentioned in class that I wasn’t a fan of Fanny but I don’t think I necessarily hate her. I think that I would like to see her grow and change, especially because we see her crying at age 10 when she is bullied by Mrs. Norris but she’s still crying because of the same reason 8 years later (if I’m correct, I think she’s 18 by the end of vol. I?) and I would like to believe that after all that time with Mrs. Norris, she would have learned how to deal with Mrs. Norris’s comments. I’m also bothered by her heavy dependence on Edmund but that made me think of how Jane Austen has mirrored her characters between her novels. In the same way that Lady Bertram, Mrs. Norris, and Mrs. Price mirror the three sisters in P&P, I’m wondering if Fanny is a mirror of Jane when she confides in Elizabeth or a mirror of Marianne’s dependence on Elinor. Maybe Edmund is the main protagonist? (Maybe in the same way that the wicked people start with a W name, the protagonists start with an E lol like Elizabeth, Emma, Elinor, Edmund?)

[jennausten]

Twisted tea, you have bewitched me body and soul - 21st regency lady student that asked her mom to custom-make her a gown and a matching spencer jacket, happy Halloween!

[jennausten]

I’ve got zombies on my mind.

This tiktok was created by @womn_pwr and their username does a pretty good job prefacing what this tiktok is going to be about. It overlays scenes of the Bennet sisters getting dressed for the ball over the audio of “I’m a survivor.”

When I found this tiktok, I was also reminded to think about Haylee’s presentation from class in which she asked if Lizzy would be able to acclimate to our modern society well and I recognized how many different “Lizzy’s” there were throughout the whole fandom and if we would consider someone like Amanda Price as Lizzy as well (although Amanda’s proposals were actually revoked a few times whereas Lizzy used the power of refusal)? Although I can’t say if P&P&Z’s Elizabeth Bennet would do well in our society but she sure would be able to define herself from anyone that gave her weird looks whether for the way she dressed or the way she acted once she popped into the 21st century.

I also found this tiktok interesting because the scenes highlight the femininity of the Bennet sisters and their aggressiveness. The song choice was also notable because it calls into question what the Bennet sisters are “surviving.” Is it the zombie apocalypse, or the fear of not being able to be married and financially stable, or (better yet) the idea of not needing to be married and still being a force in society? I also found that P&P&Z supplemented Austen’s initial writing by giving more layers to the characters in a different light. I recall from our discussion that Austen isn’t very descriptive in the way she portrays her characters and how they are a blank slate but I actually found their actions and background more telling to who they are and what “vibe” they gave off. P&P&Z does the same, for example, it reveals that Darcy’s father died after being bitten by a zombie and that Darcy had to put his father out of his misery which is a difficult act of love that aligns with the stoic but kindhearted personality that Darcy has. This portrayal with Darcy’s father instead of his sister is a much more intense incident from his past. It prompted me to think of how all the fan fictions and adaptations serve to give layers and layers to Austen’s characters-we understand Lizzy’s independence better when she’s compared to Amanda Price, we recognize Charlotte’s insecurities when Amanda takes Mr. Collins away from her. Perhaps, by molding them to fit different scenarios, time periods, actions, etc. the fandom has come to know Austen’s characters even better than Austen herself; maybe this is our way of getting ahead of her.

[jennausten]

Jenn Lin One-Pager

[jennausten]

This tiktok was created by @andrearaereads and it overlays another tiktok with images of Mr. Darcy, Jane, Lizzy, and Mr. Bingley. The tiktok is of two guys playing just dance with little enthusiasm and they are supposed to represent Mr. Darcy and Jane. It then transitions to a more enthusiastic dance and that’s supposed to represent Lizzy and Mr. Bingley.

I found that it was interesting to see this comparison between the characters as it almost showed how opposites attract, especially between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy. It caused me to recall the discussion that we had in class during Will’s presentation when we were talking about the conversation at the end of the novel when Lizzy was asking Mr. Darcy what made him like her, and she ended up answering for him. After reading it myself, I definitely agree with what someone said about how Lizzy was not being too talkative and not letting Darcy answer but rather saying what was on his mind and that he was perfectly happy allowing her to do so. Lizzy as a character shows a lot of agency in the way she composes herself and isn’t afraid to speak what’s on her mind. I found it especially fitting that the audio when Lizzy is shown goes “swing your partner round and round” because it’s also reflective of how playful and teasing Lizzy is to Mr. Darcy. 

While I don’t necessary believe that Mr. Bingley is an opposite of Jane, I definitely can see him also as an opposite of Mr. Darcy since Darcy is quite introverted. Even at the Meryton Ball, it was mentioned that Mr. Bingley makes “himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room,” (12) while Darcy only stays with people that he is familiar with. However, contrastingly to Mr. Darcy and Lizzy, I think Darcy is more of the person that is swinging Bingley “round and round,” especially when it came to Bingley’s relationship with Jane, because Bingley does take his opinion and thoughts into serious consideration and that illustrates how deep their trust is for each other. 

In regards for Jane, I don’t think she is swinging anyone “round and round” but rather a mellow character. While she does show emotion and hurt when she sees Miss Bingley’s actions and during her (somewhat of a) break up with Mr. Bingley, she still has a tendency to understate herself and only think the best of the situation, which at times I felt was a little annoying. Overall, I felt that she was a good complement to the characters because she provided the reasonable optimism and I saw her as a character that the readers could put themselves in because she was Lizzy’s confidante and since most of the story was told through Lizzy’s perspective, it was as if we were Jane and by Lizzy’s side the entire time. 

[jennausten]

I made this meme using the Gru’s Plan template which is from Despicable Me in which the third panel of of his presentation features an unexpected page that Gru reads out and then consequently looks back at the board in confusion. I felt that this would be a fitting presentation for Mr. Darcy to give on how to ask someone for their hand in marriage considering how his own proposal to Elizabeth went (because I too, would also be surprised if someone rejected me after I called them a dud).

As noted in this meme, Mr. Darcy’s proposal came off very pretentious, speaking more about how lowly Lizzie is and how he would still want to marry other instead of telling her how he wants to marry her out of love. His surprise when she rejects him speaks on how he was blinded by his own pride and makes it seem like he was doing a great deed by asking for her hand in marriage. In response, Lizzie accuses him of all of his wrong doings and prejudice against Jane and Wickham and things that don’t fit into his level of society. What’s interesting though is that Lizzie is also blinded by prejudice which we know since most of the novel is through her perspective and the readers can see that she doesn’t know Mr. Darcy’s side of the story when it came to Mr. Wickham; she simply disliked Mr. Darcy by his demeanor from the start. I was also inclined to think back to the wording of the first sentence in which “…a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,” because of how hard Mr. Darcy tried to not like Lizzie. It was almost as if the good fortune “possessed” him and caused him to have to find someone he would want to marry and that it was something that he couldn’t help but do.

This part of the novel also reminded me of our conversation of the women’s power of refusal in a society that limits them in the ways they can look for love. Specially Elizabeth Bennet, who refuses not one but two proposals during the beginning of the novel: one from the ridiculous Mr. Collins and the second from the arrogant Mr. Darcy. Austen gives agency to her heroines when they assert their own independence, not only against the men but also their parents’ desire for them to marry well. Both of the proposals from Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy don’t respect her independence. Mr. Collins’s proposal is all about economic issues while Mr. Darcy’s is very insulting towards Elizabeth and her family.

Although we as readers had no access to Mr. Darcy’s thoughts before he decided to come unexpected to declare his love to Lizzie, it was interesting to see how Mr. Darcy started changing his behavior because of his “crush” since we knew what was coming in the novel. For example, when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy was talking about socializing and Mr. Darcy claims that he doesn’t have the talent of conversing easily, Elizabeth makes the metaphor to playing the piano, stating that it’s not because her fingers aren’t capable of playing the piano well but rather that she doesn’t practice, insinuating that socializing also needs practice (116). Later in the novel, we see Darcy make more of an effort to socialize with Lizzie on her walks, albeit a bit awkward when he doesn’t say much or tries to make small talk (120). However, I would like to believe that if we were able to get his POV, it would seem like he took Lizzie’s words to heart and is trying to get to socialize better with her. Especially after our discussions in class about POV, I definitely find it interesting to try to think of what the other characters are thinking and who I might relate/identify with more.

[jennausten]

This gif set shows the dynamic between Mr. and Mrs. Palmer in which Mrs. Palmer is acting very giddy and bothering Mr. Palmer while he is reading the newspaper. He is then shown, doing a “slow blink”, a facial expression generally used when someone has just done or said something incredibly stupid and perhaps in this case, Mr. Palmer thinks Mrs. Palmer has just done both. Mr. Palmer then takes his hand and fixes the creases in his newspaper with an eye roll.

I found this fitting and related to the end of our discussion in class when we talked about the marriages that happened at the end of the novel between Marianne and Colonel Brandon, and Elinor and Edward. Were each of them opposites, complementing each other? Or were they all showing both sense and sensibility in their love for each other? It drew my attention back to this couple because in some ways, Charlotte Palmer is actually a good measure of sense and sensibility in the novel. She is sensitive without being melodramatic and sensible without being cold-hearted. Although she stands on the sidelines of the novel, perhaps it is because she doesn’t involve herself in the lives of others unless necessary to showcase that balance. Even her husband’s lack of respect for her does not contribute to her contentment. While some may argue that it is because she is oblivious to the rudeness of her husband, Charlotte Palmer recognizes that her husband is very “droll” and chooses not to let that deter her from her own happiness. She also thinks rationally, for example, when Marianne was sick, she promptly removed her newborn child from the same house to avoid infection. This shows that Charlotte isn’t ignorant of what is occurring around her but rather understands when she needs to take action and when she doesn’t need to get involved. Charlotte Palmer is not overrun by extreme sense and embracing only materialistic visions of life and she is also not overrun by sensibility, emotionally dependent on outside sources for their happiness. 

To some extent, Marianne and Elinor are both models of extreme sensibilities. Perhaps sensibility is not only when it is outrightly shown in the public but also when the character fights with emotion internally. For example, both Elinor’s assumption that Edward has a lock of her hair and Marianne’s belief that Willoughby has shown her Allenham because it will be hers one day show how they have emotional dependency and also go through “emotional whiplash” throughout the whole novel. Contrastingly, Charlotte Palmer remains herself throughout the whole novel, whether that was against the rudeness of Mr. Palmer or the joy of a new child.

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

[jennausten]

This is a tik tok made by @alanrickmanz, an account which upon further investigation seems to be a fan page for Alan Rickman. This video shows clips of John Willoughby and then transitions to clips of Edward Ferrars from the 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. The audio over the clips is a song by Eminem, The Real Slim Shady. The sound is a bit muted when showing clips of Willoughby and increases in intensity when the clips of Edward are shown. I felt that this was really fitting after our discussion about the Jane Austen men. We mentioned during class that an attractive Jane Austen man isn’t egotistical and is giving but Willoughby has proven to be the opposite of that. At first, Willoughby seems to be the romantic hero of the novel after he rescues Marianne and seems to be the love of her life during the time they spend together. His motives are fueled by self satisfaction when he seduces Eliza Williams, “knocks her up” and then leaves her, and also when he “ghosts”Marianne because he wants to marry a rich girl so that he is able to live an expensive life. His apology to Marianne also seemed to be solely to make himself feel better because of the possibility of Marianne dying from her sickness. Willoughby’s constant mockery of Colonel Brandon also shows how highly he views himself and yet, Elinor is able to still pity him which made me realize how he is able to paint himself in such a way in which he is always the victim. On the other hand, along with the other traits that we named in class, I also felt that an attractive Jane Austen man is one that is genuine in his actions and also loves for love and not because of monetary motivations. While our modern-day term for this is called a “simp,” I also believe that it’s those characteristics that Jane Austen uses that raises our standards for men. Although Colonel Brandon is perceived as old and unromantic by Marianne, Colonel Brandon is a very giving and faithful character. All throughout the novel, he is very altruistic: Colonel Brandon brings up Eliza’s child even after she was married to his brother, he offers to get Mrs. Dashwood when Marianne is ill, and also offers Edward a living at Delaford. I found it to be a really interesting comparison that this tik tok made with the two love interests of Marianne. Especially during the clips of Willoughby, the lyrics are “there’s a million of us just like me. Who cuss like me, who just don’t give a fuck like me. Who dress like me, walk, talk and act like me. And just might be the next best thing, but not quite me,” and I think that’s representative of all the “toxic” men in this novel such as John Dashwood and Robert Ferrars who are all rude and embody an unattractive Jane Austen man. The lyrics playing over the Colonel Brandon clips are “Cause I’m Slim Shady, yes, I’m the real Shady,” which I don’t really understand because to Eminem, Slim Shady is supposed to be his violent alter ego that he blames for all of his wrong-doings, so I don’t agree with that portrayal of Colonel Brandon. However, I do understand that the video is trying to show that Colonel Brandon is the ultimate attractive Jane Austen man (let’s not forget this tik tok page is also a shrine to Alan Rickman) and that the other men can only imitate Colonel Brandon but will never get close enough to be him. I definitely find it interesting how Colonel Brandon progresses throughout the novel because he goes from “sense” and being very reserved to “sensibility” when he shares his experiences and shows how much he cares for the good people around him. On the contrary, Willoughby starts with “sensibility” and stays being an emotional, attention-deprived character.

[jennausten]

I made this meme using the “Expanding Brain” template targeting how John Dashwood was heavily influenced by his wife, Fanny, on how to support his 3 half-sisters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, after their father, Henry Dashwood, passed away and was not able to leave them anything but £10,000 since the entire Norland estate would have to go to John. The expanding brain usually implies intellectual superiority over different subjects but it is used in an ironic sense to imply the opposite, meaning that the person with the most ridiculous idea is shown with the largest brain. 

This meme is in regards to how John initially decided that giving his sisters £1,000 each to support a comfortable lifestyle to ultimately giving them nothing when his wife gives him excuses of why the sisters wouldn’t need a lot of financial help. She states, “They will have no carriage, no horses, and hardly any servants; they will keep no company, and can have no expenses of any kind! Only conceive how comfortable they will be!” (12). John easily accepts these arguments against giving them anything and readily clears his desire to fulfill his promise to his father to support his widow and half-sisters. I found this fitting for this meme template because John believes that he is rationalizing if his sisters would actually need the money and using “big brain energy” when in reality, he is using weak arguments to rationalize keeping all of his money to himself and his own family. While John likes to think of himself as kind and not wanting to do anything mean, his behavior portrays him to be very greedy. It is interesting how Austen used this conversation between John and Fanny to portray them as very manipulative people. Fanny is eagerly enjoying the fact that his half-sisters will be left with nothing and is highly focused on her own social status and prestige. 

I found it very funny the way Austen described John Dashwood, stating, “he was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted, and rather selfish, is to be ill-disposed…”(7) and it reflected her ironic and sarcastic way of writing. Although I feel that Sense and Sensibility will not have the same intrusion of the narrator as we saw in Northanger Abbey, Austen still brings in a lot of her voice when giving insight to the characters and her own opinions on them. I find it really impressive that she’s able to create these characters that I can have such an avid distain for.

[jennausten]

This tiktok is made by Rachel Amber Bloom, whose tiktok handle is dramadork884, in which she dresses as a Jane Austen heroine, which is fitting as she is representing Catherine Morland. She mouths along to an audio from an episode of Parks and Recreation, during which one of the characters, Andy Dwyer is discussing his new business and says, “I  have no idea but I’m doing but I know I’m doing it really really well.” The tiktok has a text to explain how the audio relates to Northanger Abbey, as it mocks the way Catherine seeks out mysteries at Northanger Abbey (although it does spell her last name wrong). 

I found this tiktok to be rather fitting for the chapters that we have read this week because Catherine’s trip with the Tilneys to their gothic abbey fuels her desire to want to live out a horror novel. At the start of their trip, Henry amuses Catherine’s obsession with gothic literature, telling her a hypothetical story of her finding mysterious passages and going through violent storms. Catherine’s eagerness to experience that story in actuality is continually challenged by her realization that she is being irrational and I think this is mirrored in the way the Abbey is actually very modern instead of gothic. It reflects how Catherine is searching for something that would not happen in modern times. The audio really fits in well during Catherine’s first night at the Abbey in which she searches the large closet in an effort to conquer fears that she has imagined for herself. During this scene I’d imagine, is when she would say “I don’t know what I’m doing,” in an act of bravery and an attempt to be a heroine. When she finds the rolls of paper in the large closet and puts out her own candle by accident, forcing herself to sleep scared and thrilled all night, she’s “doing it really, really well”, the “it” being how she has gotten the fright she craves from reading all those gothic novels. Throughout a few chapters, Catherine continuously goes back and forth between getting carried away with her fantasies and realizing how irrational she sounds and a major one being hinted at is how she is starting to paint General Tilney as a murderer of his own wife, concluding that “he must have been dreadfully cruel to her” (124) because he doesn’t hang a photo of her in his room. 

While I initially found Catherine relatable, such as her “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) when it came to taking the trip with the Thorpes or going on the walk with the Tilneys, I found her to be more annoying during this section of the novel. Catherine came off especially childish in my opinion and I could imagine her running around in her room at night, tiptoeing near the closet just to run back into her bed with the sheets pulled up to her eyes, cowering in fear of nothing. The first couple of chapters introducing her did preface her inexperience in the world and I found her to be especially naive. It was almost as if her inexperience led her to perceive these gothic stories as fact and causes her to try to paint the world in that manner. I remember a peer mentioning that Catherine seemed “stupid” to her rather than relatable during one of our first discussions in class and I can see where that sentiment is coming from during this section of the novel but I’m interested to see how far she might take it or if she grows from learning that the exact events from stories do not play out as dramatically in life (although, this is a novel so perhaps it will be dramatic for us).

[jennausten]

I found this meme very fitting after having our discussion in class on Jane Austen’s writing style since it finds her defense of novels as a very unusual part to include into the chapter. As we went over Juvenilia, we discussed how young Jane Austen’s writing was very chaotic, including a lot of dramatic events in a short span of writing, whittling down a novel to the very main points such as in Cassandra. I also felt that Austen’s writing style is very commanding--she includes what she wants and makes the characters her own. This seemed representative in how she made parodies of other novels and tropes that she was reading at the time. Instead of catering to the readers, she makes sure that the readers are those that are interested in what she is willing to write, which is why I found this meme so relatable to what we spoke about in class.

This meme is a scene from iCarly where Carly’s brother, Spencer, bought an ostrich after letting his magic 8 ball control what he does for the episode. The text overlays Spencer representing Jane Austen and Chapter 5 from Northanger Abbey and the random ostrich as Austen’s seemingly random inclusion of a paragraph defending novels. However, I found this particularly interesting after meeting John Thorpe and the type of person Austen was portraying him to be. Austen states that “...only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the word in the best-chosen language, (Austen 23)” and shows the merits of the novel. Later on in the novel, when Catherine meets John Thorpe and inquires if he has read horror novels, John responds that he has much better things to do than reading novels and, fitting to Austen’s defense of novels, John is portrayed as an overbearing and rude character. Austen highlights how novels are guides to proper conduct and human behavior and that is exactly what John Thorpe could be said to be lacking, at least in my opinion. 

Overall, while this part of the chapter might seem “random”, it is very fitting to Jane Austen’s style of writing. I am reminded of Professor Pasanek’s Jane Austen, the presumed silhouette belonging to her, and how it seems like the silhouette of someone who is one step ahead of us. Again, the seemingly random essay in the defense of novels is actually important in the development of the characters--in how Catherine is preoccupied with Udolpho and horror novels and how John Thorpe is becoming a rather unlikeable character. I’m definitely interested in seeing how this plays out through the rest of Northanger Abbey.

Jane Austen writing Northanger Abbey like