I do hope you'll all forgive me for using a Britany Spears song title to headline my first post but it just felt right to use for the early chapters!

Catherine Morland is,in many ways,your typical small town girl-with all her brothers,it's no wonder that she was very tomboyish as a child,with her love for cricket and romping outdoors. She has some education but is not intellectually inclined-I do not think her "stupid" despite her inability to memorize The Begger's Petition(I've read that poem and it is no picnic)-granted,the narrator is being mock-serious but Catherine just seems to be more of a doer than a thinker.

At fifteen she is beginning to"curl her hair and long for balls"-she has no inclination for music or drawing,which are solitary pursuits(music does require hours of pratice by yourself before you can give a good public performance). She does enjoying reading,mostly for pleasure(and what a great pleasure that is!) but once she arrives in Bath,is eager to be out and about.

Mrs.Allen is a very nice woman but her main interest in shopping and main topic of conversation runs to clothes which shows that she is all about appearances-her first order of business in Bath is to have fashionable gowns made for herself and Catherine before going to the Upper Rooms(which is what most of the ladies arriving in Bath would do) but her repeated comments about getting Catherine a dancing partner are merely for show.

Catherine has to find her own dancing partner(after getting the proper introduction by Mr. King,who was a real life figure),Henry Tilney. Henry's amusing quiries about how she has spent her time in Bath:"Have you honored the Upper Rooms? Have you been to the theatre?..Etc" are asked in the exact order of time Catherine has been in Bath and it is a perfect example of how a first week in Bath is spent:)