Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tristram Shandy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling
Language and Comprehension
Travel, Space, and Time
Sexuality and Propriety
Science, Technology, and the Enlightenment
Summary
Analysis
Chapter 21. While Tristram’s mother is in labor upstairs, Tristram’s father, sitting with Toby by the fire, wonders what all the noise is. Toby, who is smoking his pipe in silence, begins to respond. Just then, Tristram interrupts the narrative to return to the subject of British weather and its impact on the national character. Though it makes for fickle personalities, Tristram also believes this is the source of Britain’s superior humor, as the British must entertain themselves when foul weather makes outdoor activities impossible. Tristram, getting carried away, foresees the ever-increasing development of British arts and writing as eventually reaching a point where it abolishes itself, such knowledge having been attained that further study is no longer necessary.
Tristram finally arrives at the scene of his birth, but he interrupts himself almost immediately. Returning to the subject of British weather, Tristram continues to play with the language of scientific theories of human nature and personality. His description of British humor as a response to the foul weather foreshadows the later discussion of the tension between wit and judgement in writing, implying that comedic writing—this book included—is perhaps a diverting but unproductive use of one’s time.
Themes
Returning to the subject of Toby, Tristram explains that his uncle would be a first-rate example of British character if he were not even more so an exemplary Shandy, displaying an even more unique family disposition. Tristram clarifies that this disposition is exclusive to male members of the family, except for his great aunt Dinah, who scandalously married and was impregnated by her coachman, a series of events Tristram’s father blames on her name. Though that took place 60 years ago, the memory continues to cause strife between Walter and Toby. Toby, a true gentleman, is extremely modest, particularly around women. This modesty is not due to familiarity with women, however, but an old battle wound to his groin which he received from a broken piece of fortification at the siege of Namur, a story Tristram promises to return to.
Tristram claims that his contrasting theories of character coexist within Toby, offering the reader a confusingly incomplete picture of Toby’s disposition. Toby’s extreme modesty is not easily squared with the wit Tristram ascribes to the British character, nor does Toby seem to share the attitudes of his brother Walter or his aunt Dinah. These explanations are teased and once again postponed, as Tristram introduces the siege of Namur and Toby’s military history but refuses to explain either subject just yet.
Themes
Toby, being so modest, is extremely embarrassed by Dinah’s story. Walter, however, frequently brings it up with all kinds of guests as a perfect illustration of his theory of names, causing Toby great emotional distress. Though Walter loves his brother dearly and would do anything in his power to avoid upsetting him, he cannot help himself from developing his philosophy, which Tristram calls the “Shandean System,” leading to constant arguments with Toby.
Toby and Walter’s respective natures are illuminated by their frequent arguments, pitting Walter’s complicated and often bizarre theories against Toby’s simple, modest common sense. Tristram’s explanation of the Shandean System and the debates it prompts foreshadows the role these debates will have later in the novel.
Themes
Toby cries out against Walter’s use of Dinah as an example, but Walter finds the honor of their family to be worth little compared to the demands of science. Unable to argue with Walter’s logic, Toby whistles Lillabullero in frustration, his go-to response in uncomfortable situations. Tristram then attempts to systematize his father and uncle’s philosophical disagreements, creating new and farcical Latin neologisms for the methods of argumentation they deploy against each other.
Tristram uses Walter and Toby’s incompatible loyalties to science and morality, respectively, to emphasize the gaps and contradictions in both systems. The Latin neologisms Tristram creates are a pointed satire of Enlightenment philosophers who attempted to systematize human reason and logic and often turned to Latin to name certain kinds of arguments.
Themes
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Chapter 22. Referencing ecclesiastical writings, Tristram concedes that it is unattractive to compliment oneself. On the other hand, he argues, it is equally unfortunate to ignore one’s own masterfully executed work. Tristram explains that his latest digression displays great skill missed by the reader: that in digressing from his explanation of Uncle Toby’s character by discussing Aunt Dinah, he has in fact illustrated Toby’s character quite effectively. This, Tristram argues, is the method behind his book, which is simultaneously “digressive” and “progressive,” advancing the narrative while keeping it interesting and engaging.
Once again stopping the narrative to self-consciously discuss his own narrative style, Tristram reveals what he claims to be the central technique of his book. Tristram is, of course, aware that all narratives are “digressive” and “progressive.” But by exaggerating his presentation of the story, he is able to more clearly illustrate this and use it for comedic effect.
Themes
Chapter 23. Tristram is determined to begin the chapter with nonsense and launches into speculation on how society would respond to the ability to see into the human soul. He imagines this is what life might be like on Mercury, where the heat of the atmosphere would turn people into transparent glass. On Earth, however, the mind is hidden in the mystery of the body, and its subtleties must be teased out by other methods. Tristram praises the various methods that are used to examine human nature but finds that none of them quite manage to account for the complexities of the mind. To avoid repeating their failures, Tristram is determined not to attempt to understand Toby’s character through such methods, but through the examination of his hobby-horse.
Tristram’s “nonsense” is indeed anything but, just like his borrowings from “serious” philosophy occasion his silliest jokes. In asking how one can understand the subtleties of the human mind Tristram is echoing one of the central questions of Enlightenment philosophy. All the methods philosophers have offered are admittedly imperfect, and so Tristram feels it is necessary to try a different approach.
Themes
Chapter 24. Tristram insists that the hobby-horse is a superior method for understanding a person. The more time a person spends with their hobby-horse, the more they are filled with “Hobby-Horsical matter,” Tristram argues, making a description of their character practically identical to a description of their hobby-horse. Though Toby’s hobby-horse is rather strange, Toby is so dedicated to it that it provides excellent insight into his personality. Before describing Toby’s hobby-horse, however, Tristram begs the reader to allow him to first narrate how Toby came to this particular hobby-horse.
Tristram’s claim that the hobby-horse is a superior method for understanding human nature is perhaps not as ridiculous as it may seem, as the hobby-horse is but another way of describing a person’s strongest passions and interests. Moreover, in suggesting his theory of hobby-horses, Tristram also implies that other theories of human nature are equally arbitrary attempts to make sense of the mysteries of the mind. Before explaining his theory, however, Tristram once again insists upon another digression.
Themes
Chapter 25. After being wounded at Namur, Toby returned to England to recover, spending four years receiving various surgeries. Walter was working in London at the time and stayed with Toby as he healed, bringing guests over to speak with and entertain him. These conversations sped along Toby’s recovery until they began to confront him with “unforeseen perplexities,” which suddenly worsened his health. Tristram, however, declines to say just what these “perplexities” were, and insists the reader will not be able to guess.
Jumping back in time once again, Tristram narrates how Toby was wounded in battle many years before his own birth. Certain conversations during Toby’s recovery formed the origin of his hobby-horse, but the topics of these conversations are left unsaid, ending the first volume with a cliffhanger.
Themes
