Timing Character Development

Film adaptations of Jane Austen's works often omit any seasonal variation to the landscape. Casual viewers could be forgiven for not realizing that Love & Friendship (based on the juvenile novella Lady Susan) occurs at Christmas, or that Northanger Abbey begins in January, given how green everything looks.

I've already written about the later novel's calendar back in 2021. Today I'd like to shift the focus from the chronological to kairos, defined by Merriam-Webster as "a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action : the opportune and decisive moment."

The Penitent's Path

I come from a very low church tradition, so Lent was always optional if mentioned at all. However, while Austen never mentions this holy season or even the Easter holiday in Northanger Abbey, she definitely structures her protagonist's journey to complement these seasonal transitions. Consider:

• Catherine Morland begins the story at some point during Christmastide. She's safe and snug with her family and friends, and receives a gift: a trip to Bath!
• As Lent begins, Catherine is drawn farther and farther away from the simple glow of Fullerton to the murkier shadows of both town and later Northanger Abbey.
• Just prior to Easter, she makes a perilous mistake, and repents her sin of misjudgement with bitter lamentations (her own garden of Gethsemane, albeit on a far lesser scale).
• After Easter she celebrates by traveling to Woodston parsonage, which will become Catherine's new home when she sheds her old life and embraces a new one.

Catherine's journey is subtle yet significant, elevating her struggles from the farcical whimsy of Austen's early juvenilia to a more substantial plot with real stakes and consequences. The very fact that the burgeoning heroine can fail shows that despite her youth, inexperience, and naivety, Catherine possesses agency and the means to chose her own course for both good and ill. I think it's no coincidence that her path to greater maturity follows a similar trajectory to the original purpose of Lent: a period of reflection and discovery undertook by candidates for baptism prior to joining the Church at Easter.

Adaptive Applications

Moving Northanger Abbey to a primarily Catholic country meant a number of adjustments. The obvious one was to change the profession of both the heroine's father and love interest (no married priests here). Another that became more apparent as I wrote Estancia Aldea Norteña was the more explicit depiction of the Lenten/Easter season. Carnaval and Mardis Gras provided a great reason for Catalina to face the choice of who to dance with, while Ash Wednesday showed the difference between those for whom the church is a true foundation versus mere window dressing.

Readers have now seen Catalina at her lowest, when she believes she's ruined everything by suspecting Sr. Tilve of murder. She'll face another trial in Chapter 26, releasing tomorrow, titled "Hay Revelación," or "There is Revelation." A phone call from Javier will deliver devastating news about his relationship with Isabel on Good Friday. The name of that holy day is often confusing even for the devout: what is so good about a day of crucifixion and death? And yet South Americans especially embrace the full splendor of holy or passion week, with stations of the cross and parades that both mourn and celebrate the sacrifice made for our sins.

There's an especially meaningful quote in tomorrow's chapter related to this seasonal emphasis: "... while she had been showered with attention unmerited or asked for, Javier had lost the one thing he wanted most." In discussions with some of the readers kind enough to comment on my works, I've mentioned that Catherine Morland often gets overlooked as a character because there's a sense that she's unworthy of the marriage she eventually achieves: she's not clever or talented or pretty enough, it seems, to merit love from many Austen fans.

However, it is her very unworthiness, and even more her acknowledgement of this unworthiness, that caused me to give her more than second glance on revisiting this work in the past few years. Catherine (and her counterpart Catalina) owns her deficiencies and repents her mistakes at once. The timing of her journey points to an important bedrock of Christian faith: we are loved and saved despite our failings. And yet even imperfect acts of faith are capable of moving mountains. Austen states that the lady's love of the gentleman, both humble in demands yet bold in admiration and devotion, inspired both appreciation and reciprocation.

A New Way

I'll end these musings with a minor spoiler: the Estancia chapter that occurs on Easter (set to publish this Saturday) does not include a visit to a Woodston equivalent. I originally wrote a similar scene but it just didn't fit the way these characters had developed, nor did it carry the same significance as in the original when General Tilney is basically saying "Welcome to the family!"

Instead, the "Woodston" experience all takes place at the ranch and focuses more on the spiritual/psychological connection Catalina forms with the Tilves' social set in the Norteña community. While Christmas or Navidad is certainly important in Latin America, Easter remains one of the main gathering times for families. It's also a different feeling south of the equator: rather than ushering in the warmer months, Pascua is the last autumnal gathering before winter begins to creep in. It's both a beginning and an end, a farewell to summer and a celebration of rebirth. What a perfect moment for Catalina to enter the last third of her story, the final stage of growth ahead of our tale's conclusion.

Don't worry, though, there's still more fun to come, and I promise readers: Catalina Moreno will receive more evidence of a certain person's growing affection even after the last Easter egg is found. Speaking of treats, would you like another bonus story for these characters? Leave a comment of what you'd like to see and I'll get something posted by Thursday.