NOTE: I'm having repairs done on my house, so I need to be home tomorrow morning during our class. So take Wednesday off, and finish the book (and the questions below) for Friday's class. We'll do an in-class writing on Friday over some aspect of the end of the book, which will double as our final Reading Exam.
Answer two of the following over Monday's class/reading:
Q1: We talked at length today about whether or not Henry Tilney is more of a father figure or a romantic figure for Catherine. While she obviously sees him as the latter, how does he see her and his role in courting her? Does this reflect a more 18th century approach to marriage? Or does he simply have a little of Mr. B in him, in that he doesn't quite see her as an equal?
Q2: Re-read Isabella's letter to Catherine in Chapter 27: while this is the same Isabella we've seen/heard throughout the book, what does Catherine learn to read in this letter that she didn't see before? Though she doesn't admit anything in the letter outright, where do we see her betraying her feelings/motives in the letter? In other words, what does the Narrator let us see that Catherine is only learning to discover?
Q3: After the scene with Henry before his mother's door, the Narrator remarks that "The visions of romance were over. Catherine was completely awakened" (196). While she learns to downplay the romantic element of her reading, how might she also overcompensate for her earlier enthusiasm? Why might Henry's instruction bring her too far away from her original instincts?
Q4: After Isabella's true behavior is exposed, Catherine admits that "though I am hurt and grieved that I cannot still love her, that I am never to hear from her, perhaps never to see her again, I do not feel so very, very much affected as one would have thought" (203). Why does this admission shock her, and what might it admit about her friendship with Isabella? Could she say the same thing about Henry if he, too, proved false to her?
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