Editing Northanger Abbey (section)

=== The importance of time ===
Various scholars such as the French historian [[Michel Foucault]] and the British Marxist [[E.P. Thompson]] have argued that the 18th century became the "era of the clock" as availability of mass-produced clocks and watches allowed time to be measured more accurately.<ref name=":02">Kickel, Katherine "General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey" pp. 145–169 from ''Nineteenth-Century Literature'', Vol. 63, No. 2, September 2008 p. 147.</ref> From these devices creating a new increased emphasis on time management, Thompson called this era the beginning of "time discipline."<ref name=":02" /> As a result of living in the new era of "time discipline," Austen frequently uses clocks as symbols of General Tilney's authority over Northanger Abbey.<ref>Kickel, Katherine "General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey" pp. 145–169 from ''Nineteenth-Century Literature'', Vol. 63, No. 2, September 2008 p. 148.</ref> General Tilney is always checking his watch and is most insistent that the servants as well as his own family observe the clocks to make sure they are on time.<ref>Kickel, Katherine "General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey" pp. 145–169 from ''Nineteenth-Century Literature'', Vol. 63, No. 2, September 2008 p. 150.</ref> Because of the importance of staying on schedule, even when General Tilney is not around, clocks serve as a symbol of his power as Catherine finds herself always checking the time.<ref>Kickel, Katherine "General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey" pp. 145–169 from ''Nineteenth-Century Literature'', Vol. 63, No. 2, September 2008 p. 155.</ref> After arriving at Northanger Abbey, Catherine discovers that everything at the abbey happens on a strict schedule because of General Tilney.<ref name=":1">Kickel, Katherine "General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey" pp. 145–169 from ''Nineteenth-Century Literature'', Vol. 63, No. 2, September 2008 p. 153.</ref> This is a marked difference from Catherine's lax attitude that she displays in Bath.<ref name=":1" /> Catherine compares General Tilney to a clock, as something inhuman and mechanical that operates with no regard to the human body.<ref>Kickel, Katherine "General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey" pp. 145–169 from ''Nineteenth-Century Literature'', Vol. 63, No. 2, September 2008 p. 156</ref> When Catherine visits the kitchen at Northanger Abbey, she notes that it is equipped with all manner of "modern" cooking equipment and that the cooks work in an efficient manner like soldiers performing a drill.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Kickel |first=Katherine |date=2008 |title=General Tilney's Timely Approach to the Improvement of the Estate in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey |journal=Nineteenth-Century Literature |volume=63 |issue=2 |page=160|doi=10.1525/ncl.2008.63.2.145 }}</ref> This is a direct reflection of the General's wish to have everything ordered.<ref name=":2" />