Good and Bad Judgments

In class this week we were asked the question where should Catherine, a character from Northanger Abbey, get her judgement from? Should it be from the novels she reads, or should it be from somewhere else? I personally think it should not be from the novels, or any type of fiction, but it should be from her own experiences, as well as from other people she holds in high regards. Judgement, defined in the dictionary, is "the ability to form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely, especially in matters affecting action" (dictionary). If this is the case, Catherine in forming her judgement should have been wise enough to recognize real from unreal.

The last post I had was how Catherine was trying to figure out real from unreal. Her obsession with novels I proposed would get her into some serious trouble. In our last reading of the book, this is precisely what happened. She made known to her lover, Henry Tilney, that she suspected his father to have murdered his mother. This accusation took him aback, and he became furious with her. It lead to consequences that Catherine definitely did not expect. Her judgement was clouded by her obsession with the mysteries that she read in her novels. She would have recognized her faults immediately if she had brought reason and reality into her thought process.

All of this is too say, we should not bring fiction into reality. Books are suppose to be an escape from the present, not a way for us to incorporate its absurd concepts into real life. They are especially not meant to be a way to judge current situations. Never let a fiction book do your thinking for you. Make your own judgements from your own life experiences, and what your know to be truth. If you don't, you will end up in trouble every time, as we have seen with Catherine Moorland.