My Thoughts/Musings/Ramblings
Ch. 28 (Vol. 2 Ch. 13)
This is a super-abrupt shift--and, ironically, the closest Catherine gets to being the heroine of a Gothic novel. Turned out of the house with no protection and no chance to write home, and she would have been penniless if Eleanor hadn't thought to give her money.
Ch. 29 (Vol. 2 Ch. 14)
Catherine's mother is by far the most down-to-earth, relaxed, normal mother in Jane Austen. The rest are all either great-but-dead or seriously batty. I guess in this novel, Mrs. Allen fills the "seriously batty" role.
Ch. 30 (Vol. 2 Ch. 15)
Catherine's mother's worries at the beginning of this chapter remind me of Meg's experiences in Little Women--more than once, she is led into discontent and bad decisions by her wealthier friends.
And, by the end of the chapter, it is revealed that while Mrs. Allen may be batty, General Tilney is a straight up villain. I love Austen's description of General Tilney after his conversation with Thorpe: "Enraged at almost every body in the world but himself." Of course he is.
Ch. 31 (Vol. 2 Ch. 16)
Thankfully, Catherine's parents are as cool as General Tilney is awful, and they are immediately on board with Henry's proposal. Hooray! However, being parents, they have to pull the parent move of making sure it's ok with the other set of parents (in this case, General Tilney.)
Wow, glad that character we never saw got his title after all and married Eleanor! Not your best work, Jane. But--as she jokes--we all knew things would work out when we saw how close the end of the book was, so what are you going to do? So General Tilney consents after all--at least one of his kids married into money, and Catherine wasn't as poor as he thought--and everyone lives happily ever after just like we knew they would even though this started out as a parody.
My Takeaways
Weakly plotted ending or no, I had forgotten how much fun this book is. I like poor dopey Catherine; usually Austen's heroines are so clever and witty that I enjoyed the change of pace here.
Vocab/Clarifications
Ch. 28 (Vol. 2 Ch. 13)
The bit about the servant--when Catherine assumes that General Tilney will send a servant home with her since there isn't time to write to her parents, and poor Eleanor has to inform her that in fact, no servant will be provided--is actually a really big deal. Women didn't travel alone, both for real safety concerns and to protect their reputations. Catherine will have to stop and hire new horses along the way--it's not just a quick solo carriage ride. It's like putting a young teenager (while Catherine is considered marriageable, she's also clearly still a child in a lot of ways) by herself on a cross-country Greyhound bus trip where she will have to change busses periodically: could go fine, but a lot could go wrong. This is seriously mean, and definitely something that would freak most parents out.
Ch. 29 (Vol. 2 Ch. 14)
Catherine is right to be sad about losing her friendship with Eleanor, because, as Shapard explains, "As long as General Tilney disapproves of any contact between his daughter and Catherine, it would be inappropriate for them to arrange a meeting; their inability to see each other would be further hampered by the restrictions on ladies' traveling alone" (479).
Ch. 30 (Vol. 2 Ch. 15)
"rhodomontade" (p. 498)--empty boasting
Ch. 31 (Vol. 2 Ch. 16)
"marriage settlements" (p. 502)--money that Henry will inherit based on contracts signed at the time of his father's marriage (before he was even born.) His father can't take that money away.
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