How does the opening scene of the novel make fun of the Gothic romantic theme?

“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland from her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine.” The opening line of Northanger Abbey establishes the novel’s self-conscious nature: rather than subscribing to the literary conventions of her day, Austen immediately juxtaposes Catherine against the beautiful and virtuous female protagonists commonly featured in sentimental novels. From her first description of Catherine’s plain appearance as a child to her insistence on Catherine’s lack of prodigal talent at the piano, Austen is careful not to idealize her heroine. As a result, Catherine’s development as a character emerges across the first chapter’s condensed time frame through Austen’s insistence on her protagonist’s differences. The young Catherine likes to play cricket rather than with dolls, and Austen repeatedly insists that she has “by nature nothing heroic about her.” Through this phrase, Austen indirectly addresses the reader by calling our attention to the fictional nature of her project: although Catherine may come across as a more realistic character than her literary predecessors, we are constantly made aware that she is also an author’s willful creation. This effect is only made possible by summoning the presence of other texts.