Brother/sister comparisons was my focus - I meant to post something at the end of last week, but didn't get round to it, so thank you for spurring me on :-)

Catherine and James never strike me as particularly close. Catherine loves her brother very much and is delighted to receive him in Chapter 7, but she isn't as attatched to him as other JA siblings are - I think this may have something to do with her large family. She does not give him her real, secret opinion on John Thorpe; in fact, she 'directly' lies to him.

On James's side, he is 'sincerely attatched to her', but he is also distracted by Isabella, and seems to spend far more time with her than he does with Catherine. Okay, he's courting, but he's not a very attentive brother, is he? He, in his turn, conceals his motives for coming to Bath from Catherine, letting her believe that he has come to see her.

The intended trips to Blaize Castle show a different light to Catherine and James's relationship - he openly sides with Isabella over his own sister, going to far as to accuse her of being obstinate in front of their friends. Catherine is truly distressed by this - "This was the first time of her brother’s openly siding against her, and anxious to avoid his displeasure, she proposed a compromise." "It was painful to her to disappoint and displease them, particularly to displease her brother". Here, I feel, he is pushing his sister purely for his own, selfish motives. I cannot like James at this point.