"] No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine … There was not one family among their acquaintance who had reared and supported a boy accidentally found at their door … A thousand alarming presentiments of evil to her beloved Catherine from this terrific separation must oppress her heart with sadness, and drown her in tears for the last day or two of their being together … Who would not think so? … Neither robbers nor tempests befriended them, nor one lucky overturn to introduce them to the hero … "

NA is a parody of the Gothic, but also of the own style of the author. At last it is how I feel it:-) Jane Austen's novels were "classic" in a sort of way: marriages, social conventions, fashion etc etc. NA is aparody of all this. Just look at "S&S", by exemple, and you'll see clearly the NA is JA's parody of her own novels.