How Does Jane Austen Use Satire In Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey has been praised by countless critics as the perfect balance between satire and realism. The novel, a light-hearted comedy full of humorous situations and entertaining wit, has enticed countless readers with an unprecedented writing style which combines elements of gothic and satirical literature. Although the novel has captivated readers over the years, the story has received its fair share of criticism. Tara Ghoshal Wallace, for example, claims that the novel’s storyline was inconsistent due to Austen’s use of satire, and Carole Gerster accuses Austen of disrupting the novel’s narration to integrate her own voice. Though the novel’s satirical elements make the reading more enjoyable for readers, select literary

Throughout the novel, she tends to vacillate between writing in the voice of Catherine, the protagonist, and writing in her own voice. In the words of critic Carole Gerster, “Austen places herself in the midst of an ongoing dialogue,” making it difficult to recognize the novel’s true narrator due to a “mix of varied and opposing voices” (Gerster). Throughout the novel, Austen sometimes steps out of the persona of the narrator, writing what reads as a message from herself to her readers. She often uses these excerpts to clarify or foreshadow upcoming events. For example, at the start of the novel, she describes Mrs. Allen and Catherine’s first meeting, foreshadowing later events by telling readers that Mrs. Allen’s “actions will hereafter tend to promote the general distress of the work” (Austen 20). Though Gerster insists that Austen’s input interrupts the story, I quite enjoyed these directives. Austen’s input makes it feel as if she herself is communicating with her readers, such as when she writes: “It may be stated, for the readers more certain information… that [Catherine’s] heart was affectionate [and] her disposition [was] cheerful and open” (Austen 19). While Gerster claims that Austen’s different voices made the story difficult to follow, I thought it was quite easy to distinguish Austen’s own voice from that of the narrator. In fact, in some cases, her personal input made the story