Northanger Abbey

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The Tilney home, Northanger Abbey, is a mock-Gothic setting.

• How does Austen establish the mock-Gothic atmosphere of Northanger Abbey? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of imagery, language, or plot detail that support your analysis.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this atmosphere helps to support the novel’s larger concern with The Difference Between Fantasy and Reality.

2. One of the targets of Austen’s satire in Northanger Abbey is the habit of using literature for cheap or petty purposes.

• What argument does the novel advance about the proper purposes of literature? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of characterization, plot detail, or language that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this satirical element of the novel helps to support the novel’s larger concern with The Journey From Innocence to Experience.

3. Austen gives many of her characters distinct speech habits that help to characterize them. Choose one such character to focus on as the basis for your response.

• What are the hallmarks of this character’s speech, and how do they contribute to characterization? (topic sentence)
• Give quoted examples from at least three different places in the novel that support your analysis.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how this characterization contributes to the novel’s larger meaning.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Catherine’s naïveté initially makes it difficult for her to know when people are being sincere, which greatly complicates her search for love and loyalty. Consider:

• How is Catherine’s relative innocence established early in the narrative?
• How does the narrative establish The Importance of Love and Loyalty and Catherine’s desire to find this kind of belonging?
• Which characters have an easy time manipulating Catherine? What are their motives?
• How does Catherine’s passion for Gothic romance contribute to her inability to see the world realistically?
• What indicators are there that Catherine learns to see the world more realistically? How is this related to her ability to evaluate people’s intentions more accurately?
• How does Catherine’s ability to evaluate people more accurately contribute to her ability to find genuine love and loyalty?

Write an essay in which you analyze the relationship between Catherine’s ability to discern between sincerity and manipulation and her ability to secure genuine love and loyalty for herself. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. One of the projects of Northanger Abbey is to distinguish between elements of “civil” behavior that contribute productively to society and human flourishing, and those that pointlessly infringe on individual happiness. Consider:

• How is Catherine characterized in the opening of the novel? What does the narrator’s tone imply about how the reader should feel about this version of Catherine?
• What versions of “civility” does Catherine experience when she is removed from her country setting, and how does she react? What is implied about civility by moving from a rural to an urban environment?
• How does Austen use her characterizations of Henry Tilney, Mrs. Allen, John and Isabella Thorpe, and others to develop the motif of different kinds of civility?
• How do narrative intrusions and character dialogue comment directly on this issue? How do narrative tone and plot events comment indirectly?
• How do Catherine’s experiences with civility support the novel’s thematic interest in The Journey From Innocence to Experience?

Write an essay in which you analyze what this novel conveys about different types of civility and what the novel’s purpose is in doing so. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Northanger Abbey is both a parody of Gothic romance and the story of a naive protagonist coming to terms with reality. Consider:

• How does Austen manipulate the reader into sharing Catherine’s experience and participating, at least to some degree, in the process of fantasy creation and subsequent disillusionment?
• How is the figure of General Tilney key to this experience—for both Catherine and for the reader?
• How does Austen use free indirect discourse and shifts in narrative tone to encourage the reader to get swept away in Catherine’s subjective experience?
• How does Austen use diction and plot detail to misdirect the reader along with Catherine?
• How does this experience impact the reader—particularly their understanding of the book’s parodic intentions?
• How does this strategy support the novel’s thematic interest in The Journey From Innocence to Experience and The Difference Between Fantasy and Reality?

Write an essay in which you analyze Austen’s methods and purposes for creating this shared experience between Catherine and the reader. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.