From Northanger Abbey
John Thorpe
A boastful carriage driver • Loud and reckless
Isabella’s loud brother, who loves fast horses and carriages and is very careless with the truth.
Who is John Thorpe?
John Thorpe is Isabella’s loud, boastful brother, a student at Oxford with Catherine’s brother James. He loves horses, carriages and bragging, and he is very careless with the truth. He decides that Catherine admires him, even though she plainly does not.
John Thorpe is a character in Northanger Abbey, the 1817 novel by Jane Austen, retold for ages 6–9 by Sean Lee.
What is John Thorpe like?
- boastful
- pushy
- careless
John Thorpe’s story
John arrives in Bath with James Morland in his gig, a light two-wheeled carriage, and immediately starts boasting about how fast his horse can go. He invites Catherine for drives and does not listen to anything she says.
When Catherine has promised to walk with Henry and Eleanor Tilney, John tells her he has seen them driving away, so she agrees to go with him to see Blaize Castle. Soon after, she spots the Tilneys walking toward her lodgings and begs him to stop, but he only drives faster.
John also boasts to General Tilney that the Morlands are very rich and that Catherine will inherit Mr. Allen’s fortune. Later, cross that Catherine has turned him down, he tells the General just the opposite, that her family is poor. Both stories are untrue, and they cause Catherine a great deal of trouble.
“I never read novels; I have something else to do.”
A moment to remember
John swears his horse is wild and dangerous, then drives along while it trots as calmly as can be.
Family and friends
- Isabella Thorpe: sister
- Catherine Morland: girl he wrongly thinks admires him
- General Tilney: man he misleads
Talk about it
John told tall tales to get his own way. Why do lies often cause more trouble than they solve?
Questions about John Thorpe
- What lie does John Thorpe tell Catherine?
- He tells her he saw Henry and Eleanor Tilney driving out of Bath, so she thinks they have forgotten their walk and goes driving with him instead.
- Why does General Tilney believe John Thorpe?
- John seems to know the Morlands well, because his sister is engaged to James, so the General trusts his boasting about the family’s money.
- Does Catherine like John Thorpe?
- No. She finds him rude and boring, though he is so sure of himself that he believes she likes him.
Read the story in
Northanger Abbey
Ages 6–9, 72 pages
