This description of Catherine sounds similar to the description given in Pride and Prejudice of Elizabeth Bennett, who also has no great talent on the pianoforte or with a pencil. Austen consistently portrays the heroines of her novels in contrast to the women in the novels famous during her own life. These characteristics as mentioned in the Broadview edition of "Northanger Abbey" in appendix C.3 included musical accomplishments, artistic skills, and care for small creatures.

The end of chapter 5 introduces a break from the novel in the form of a short essay on the value of novels. Given the additional mockery in this novel of the traditional fiction being written at that time, the narrator can be seen as the voice of Jane Austen herself.

This is an example of a style of writing that Jane Austen was known to perfect through her writing and which she is quite famous for called free indirect discourse. This is when the narrator slips into the mind of the character momentarily and reveals thoughts that a third person narrator would have never been privileged to, but without using third person pronouns like "he" or "she."

This refers to their name given at birth, so Catherine and Isabel. Referring to someone by their Christian name portrayed extreme comfortability and familiarity. The prefix Mr., Mrs., and Miss were examples of comfortable terms of address when speaking of or with someone, and only selective characters throughout Jane Austen's novels are seen breaking this acceptable social norm (Susannah Fullerton, "What's in a Name?")

Although religion was a daily ritual in the life of Jane Austen, with her father being a clergyman, it is never a focus and sometimes scarcely even mentioned in her novels. Austen has actually composed several sermons and prayers, but the lack of religion in her novels suggests that it was considered a more private affair.