Handkerchiefs Symbol Analysis

In Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey, handkerchiefs symbolize how Yorick’s genuine emotions often turn into silly, self-indulgent displays of sentimentality. Early in the story, when English traveler Yorick is leaving Montriul, France, a crowd of beggars surrounds him. Although he receives blessings from several beggars, he feels most satisfied when a shamefaced beggar dries tears of gratitude with a “little handkerchief” after receiving Yorick’s money. While at first glance this episode may seem to illustrate Yorick’s genuine generosity, his reaction actually suggests that he likes to indulge his own sentimental feelings rather than act with true altruism. After all, he clearly feels self-satisfied in this moment because of the beggar’s tears, and his cutesy description of the handkerchief as “little” suggests that he’s romanticizing the entire episode. Later, when Yorick fantasizes about learning the sad history of his partner in flirtation, Madame de L—, he imagines the “exquisite sensation” of drying her tears with his handkerchief—a description that mixes his real pity with his sexual interest in her and his self-indulgent desire to act as her comforter. Toward the end of the novel, meanwhile, Yorick meets the beautiful young madwoman, Maria, weeps with pity, and—in a clearly comical episode—takes turns drying Maria’s face and then his own until his handkerchief is too wet to function. Throughout A Sentimental Journey, then, handkerchiefs mark moments when the author satirizes Yorick’s emotions as excessively sentimental or self-indulgent.