Chapter 14 reveals Catherine's ride back to her home. "leaning back in one corner of the carriage, in a violent burst of tears, she was conveyed some miles beyond the walls of the Abbey before she raised her head; and the highest point of ground within the park was almost closed from her view before she was capable of turning her eyes towards it" (Austen 193).
The entire journey seemed to take forever, and Catherine was miserable the whole way home. Right before Catherine's homecoming, Austen injects her thoughts into the story: "A heroine returning, at the close of her career, to her native village, in all the triumph of recovered reputation, and all the dignity of a countess, with a long train of noble relations in their several phaetons, and three waiting-maids in a travelling chaise-and-four, behind her, is an event on which the pen of the contriver may well delight to dwell; it give credit to every conclusion, and the author must share in the glory she so liberally bestows – But my affair is widely different; I bring back my heroine to her home in solitude and disgrace; and no sweet elation of spirits can lead me into minuteness" (Austen 195).
Her whole family (or at least those at home) came out to greet her, happy to see her home again. They all wished to hear of her adventures, and asked about the circumstances which led to her coming home so soon. "They never once thought of her heart, which, for the parents of a young lady of seventeen, just returned from her first excursion from home, was odd enough! (Austen 197).
Catherine dearly missed Eleanor, and in response to a comment of Mrs. Allen said: "No friend can be better worth keeping than Eleanor" (Austen 198).
Cathrine's return home is very interesting to see. She left a shy girl, never being in society and coming back a woman who has been heart broken.
ReplyDeleteShe has grown up, and at the moment is upset. It's not the happy return many would like to see, but she is too traumatized by the events that have occurred.