Just as Marianne must experience considerable maturity, so too must Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey (1818) when she first meets readers. Unlike the characters of Elizabeth and Elinor, known for their intelligence and common sense, Catherine's: "the mind [is] as ignorant and uniform as the female mind usually is at seventeen." Despite her immaturity, Catherine has a warm heart “a cheerful and open disposition, without presumption or affection of any kind – her manners are scarcely far from the awkwardness and shyness of a girl; his person is pleasant and, when he is good-looking, pretty”. In developing both the protagonist and the plot, Austen parodies the popular Gothic novel of the time by calling Catherine a "heroine" in the very first sentence of the book: "No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her childhood, would have supposed that she was born to be a heroine.” Austen obviously uses irony, as she comically refers to the usual heroine portrayed in these novels, beautiful damsels in distress waiting to be saved by a handsome man. Catherine is simply not one of these heroines; ordinary girl waiting for something to happen. Before she can discover her hero, she must learn to evaluate the character of others and understand herself before she can claim the title of "heroine". real is not as emotional and romantic, or as black and white as the romance novels he reads. This is especially evident in his friendship with Isabella Thorpe. He quickly becomes close to Isabella who is attractive, intelligent and socially confident, but who later she emerges as the anti-heroine of the novel. Isabelle appears... halfway through the paper... and you must respect her sincerity, her high principles, her generous trust in others, and her patience under paths that would be too great for much stronger heads. ..and despite her romantic madness she has so much good heart that she needs it instead of common sense." It seems both of these critics are missing the point about Catherine, her inadequacies as a heroine, such as they are, exist. because Austen tries to do too much with her – "to make her a goose parody of the sentimental Gothic heroine, and make claims for her as a human being who would learn common sense and also learn to go beyond it." a true Austen heroine, not only because she learns to examine her own spirit, heart, and mind so that she can mature beyond her flaws, but also because she inspires readers to develop truly heroic behavior themselves..