Northanger Abbey Language and Communication Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

"My dearest creature, I have been looking for you this hour. What could have induced you to come into this set, when you knew I was in the other? I have been quite wretched without you."

"My dear Isabella, how was it possible for me to get at you? I could no even see where you were."

"So I told your brother all the time - but he would not believe me. Do go and see for her, Mr. Morland, said I - but all in vain - he would not stir an inch. Was it not so, Mr. Morland?" (8.12-14)

Isabella excels in verbally disconcerting, or confusing, people. She talks constantly in an effort to keep everyone else off balance, and in an effort to keep herself in the position of never being wrong.

Quote #2

Catherine's silent appeal to her friend, meanwhile, was entirely thrown away, for Mrs. Allen, not being at all in the habit of conveying any expression herself by a look, was not aware of it being ever intended by any body else. (9.6)

Non-verbal communication is often the most problematic and the most frequently misunderstood in this text. Mrs. Allen is shown to be someone totally oblivious to it. Catherine has a much more hit-and-miss record with non-verbal cues.

Quote #3

She followed him in all his admiration as well as she could. To go before, or beyond him was impossible. His knowledge and her ignorance of the subject, his rapidity of expression, and her diffidence of herself put that out of her power; she could strike out nothing new in commendation, but she readily echoed whatever he chose to assert. (9.27)

Different personalities often have trouble communicating in this text. John practically steamrolls the shy Catherine here. Communication is frequently a matter of finding common ground, but in this instance John opts to dominate the conversation, forcing Catherine to become an echo.