Northanger Abbey, chapter 13: Girls Chase Boys (Chase Girls)

The arbiter of justice that is in charge of calculating the “ethical calculus” of Northanger Abbey has deemed it fit to test Catherine’s character again—and to make it easy, the second test is pretty similar to the first. Catherine faces off against the same group as before, who make a plan to include her on another trip to the summer home castle on the day after just when Cat is making a plan to walk out with Henry and Eleanor on the same day. To really emphasize their duplicity, we the readers are told that it’s really Isabella who claims she wants to go, with James falling in line and they need John and Cat there as cover. 

On being informed of Cat’s date with the Tilneys, the attack begins. Isabella is relentless in her sweet-talk, “sure her dearest, sweetest Catherine would not seriously refuse such a trifling request to a friend who loved her so dearly.” She hypocritically accuses Cat of choosing a new friend over “her best and oldest [friend]” (they have known. Each other. For a week). “When once my affections are placed,” she claims, “it is not in the power of anything to change them.” We’ll return to this claim later.

It’s James’s reaction that really irks me, however. As Cat resolutely explains, again and again, that she wants to honor a prior engagement, and then suggest they simply go on Tuesday, James doubles down on his disappointment in her. “[Y]ou were not used to be so hard to persuade; you once were the kindest, best–tempered of my sisters,” he harrumphs. You ONCE were? How very dare you! Fine, maybe Catherine doesn’t have an older brother any more! How does that feel? Does that feel good?

Isabella brattily reveals that she can’t go if Cat won’t go due to the Rules of Propriety that even brats must follow. Thorpe blurts out that he was only planning to go “for the sake of driving” Cat there. (The reason why they can’t delay the outing for a day is because Thorpe wants to be free to drive to London on Tuesday. Why Isabella and James aren’t at the very least annoyed at him for this inflexibility is left unquestioned.)

Catherine keeps to her conviction: “If I am wrong, I am doing what I believe to be right.” Isabella makes more noises about her jealousy, which is a big turn-off for Cat. John, who has been elsewhere, joins them again declaring that Cat’s Monday is now free. How did he change that? By seeking out Eleanor and lying to her that Cat had a prior commitment. Isabella and James are delighted and completely forget that they just bullied Cat relentlessly. I mean, she could still refuse to, you know, leave with you guys? But no, they truly believe that they are entitled to Cat’s time … and body, apparently, because they actively try to restrain her when she tries chase down the Tilneys.

The Thorpes? Are unhinged.

Freeing herself from their grasp in true heroic fashion, Cat chases after the Tilneys. She’s more unhappy to have disappointed her brother than the Thorpes, but has no regrets. She’s motivated by the knowledge that she was wrong running off on the Tilneys before, so now she’s doubling down on her sense of righteousness. So righteous is she that she follows the Tilneys into their own house (!), bypasses the clueless servant (!!), and throws open the door to the drawing room where General Tilney is also residing (!!!). My girl Cat is working overtime: “It was all a mistake—I never promised to go—I told them from the first I could not go—I ran away in a great hurry to explain it.” (Her fear of Henry’s potential “resentment” also contributes to her haste.)

The siblings accept this explanation and Eleanor introduces Catherine to General Tilney, who initially thinks his footman has neglected his duty to Cat. Cat absolves poor William of this accusation. She gets a dinner invite for all her trouble, but (guided perhaps by the same principles) has to decline because she doesn’t want to disappear on the Allens. The general continues to charm her, giving her an ostentatious bow. Would that every first meeting with the parent of your crush went this well.

Cat feels so good, in fact, that she begins to question if she did the right thing. After all, her refusal to go to Clifton has resulted in “a friend displeased, a brother angry, and a scheme of great happiness to both destroyed” (but John Thorpe can suck it). She asks Mr. Allen and he tells her that unmarried people “going to inns and public places together [...] is not right.” He patiently prods Mrs. Allen into agreeing with him, but when she does, Cat distressingly asks her why she didn’t warn her against going in the first place and you don’t really need me to tell you that Mrs. Allen’s reply is as meaningless as her head is empty, do you?

Cat asks Mr. Allen, hey, if going to a second location without a chaperone is a bad idea, should she let her friend Isabella know that, too? And Mr. Allen says, nah, Isabella would probably be all resentful about it—if her mother doesn’t worry about it, there’s not much Cat can do. She’s doubly thankful that she “escape[d]” the outing, because otherwise the Tilneys would’ve judged her for this “breach of propriety.”

Does this mean we can look forward to more time with Henry and Eleanor and less time with the gruesome twosome? God I hope so!

The Shepard Shelf: Isabella, in making a scene in a public setting about Cat supposedly switching her affections from her to the Tilneys, is behaving rudely. She also does so in a way that “expos[es] Catherine’s affection for Henry Tilney to the possible notice of others,” another transgression of friendship. Speaking of rudeness, Shapard also remarks that General Tilney’s excessive politeness here should be contrasted with his abrupt reaction to Catherine’s first attempt to visit them.