Northanger Abbey
John Thorpe
The boastful suitor
A loud, swaggering young man who brags about his horses and his gig. His lies to General Tilney cause the story's main trouble.
John Thorpe is twenty-two, a college friend of James Morland and Isabella's brother. He drives into Bath shouting for the crossing to be cleared, and he brags about his horse and his gig, which he says cost fifty guineas and was dirt cheap. He says he never reads novels, and he talks over everyone.
He is rude and pushy, and he is not honest. He tells Catherine small lies to get his own way, and he assumes any girl in England would jump at a man with a gig and four horses. He talks so much about his horses that he hardly notices what Catherine says, and he is quite sure of his own charm.
“My gig is the neatest thing in England! Cost me fifty guineas, and dirt cheap at the price!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Thorpe pesters Catherine for dances and drives, and he lies to her that he saw the Tilneys leaving town, so she misses her walk with them. He later boasts to General Tilney that Catherine is the sole heiress of a huge fortune.
When Catherine does not accept his clumsy hints at marriage, he turns spiteful and tells the General she is a beggar. That lie sends Catherine home alone. Henry names Thorpe as the cause when he explains everything in the Fullerton meadow.
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