At the beginning of the novela, we are introduced to our unconventional heroine of just 17: Catherine. She is the daughter of a clergyman and lives with her many siblings in the country. Catherine is bonita/pretty enough, doesn’t possess any real talents (in musica or any of the other things that ladies would do at the time), and doesn’t really start her formal education until she is 15 (no interest before that, but to play with her siblings, she almost seemed a marimacha). Catherine points to us that she apenas had her “glow-up”. She is invited by her neighbors the Allens, to go to the city of Bath, which is where all the jovenes are going to find pareja. She’s excited, since there are no real suitors in the country. Now she will be out into society, something less of a party and religious like a quinceanera, but with more social events.
The “Maria’s”- although she was beautiful, she belonged to the lower, lower class, most unlikely to become a heroine. Money definitely helps her have her glow up! Like Catherine, the Marias learn to act like ladies and start to show an interest in their education. Jane the Virgin- Jane definitely has a glow up! Xio, has always been the more sexy one, and the one to get more of the male attention. There is a time when Jane is the one to start getting some male attention, especially after puberty, just like Catherine.
Our heroine prepares for her journey to Bath. After a few days of their arrival, the Allens and Catherine attend a ball. Catherine is excited at the prospect of making amistades by the coneccion of the Allens and being admired by men. Mrs. Allen sees no friends and Catherine is raving for the attention of the young men. She is disappointed for the majority of the night (and is happy when the people start leaving, hoping that with less chicas, there will be less competition!) until the end of the ball when 2 young men comment on how pretty she is. Catherine finalmente is able to leave, satisfied she had her share of attention masculina.
At her second ball, Catherine is introduced to Henry Tilney, a clergyman of 24. Henry jokes with Catherine about the social rules of dancing. They then talk about Catherine’s schedule and Henry teases Catherine about reading her journal and finding how she would describe him. Que escandalo! To Henry’s surprise, she has no journal, so they banter on letter writing versus journal writing. Does length matter?
Henry then surprises Mrs. Allen and Catherine at his knowledge of muslin and dresses, leaving them both impressed with his attention to detail, it takes un hombre valiente to openly talk about fashion. Although the sparks aren’t flying right away, there is quimica/chemistry between these two. Catherine dreams with Henry that night.
When Mr. Tilney and Catherine meet though, there is no big telenovela moment. Here we see playfulness and definitely some chemistry, but no fireworks in the sky or a wind blowing through their hair or having flower petals all around them. Nonetheless, there is chemistry there and Catherine dreams with him.
Hasta la proxima!
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