Nothanger Abbey by Jane Austen is a unique work unlike many other novels of the early 19th century. It is clear that the author was aware of her audience and it can be argued that Austen had, in a sense, created a new generation of characters within a new generation of novels. Catherine Morland, through her coming-of-age tale, is a completely believable and realistic character, challenging how readers typically relate to characters in their novels. Throughout her journey, Catherine experiences emotions, disappointments, and even hardships that avid readers, like her, can easily identify with. Jane Austen strategically employs the use of various narrative techniques in her work, which also allow the reader to gain greater insight into their heroine's mind; they begin to become familiar with Catherine and even develop a relationship and attachment to her. Furthermore, to strengthen the development of a connection between her readers and her characters, Austen establishes a new form of the novel, peppering her work, Northanger Abbey, with Gothic elements. Overall, through her unique and believable characters, her narrative strategies, and her eye for Gothic characteristics and defiance of the norm, Jane Austen has successfully created a classic and timeless novel. In Northanger Abbey's protagonist, Catherine Morland, Jane Austen invented an entirely new breed of character. . Strategically, the author wrote herself into the book. Austen explores the struggles of a young reader: deciphering between reality and the fictional world of novels, a struggle she experienced firsthand. It is blatantly obvious that Catherine is an avid reader from Austen's repeated references to classic novels, as well as her well-known defe... middle of paper... ability to take them away, into another world. . Yet, through Catherine, they are reminded that they leave reality behind and, at some point, must return and distinguish between fiction and realism. Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey is a unique literary piece that has earned the right to stand on its own. Through it, he strategically designed a new form of character within a new form of novel. She employs the use of her own experiences and tactically combines them with the characters in her novels, particularly Catherine Morland, her intelligent narrative style and her distinctive use of Gothic imagery to challenge her readers. She makes her readers turn their judgments on themselves, realize that at some point in their lives, they walked a mile in Catherine's shoes. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003. 5-187.