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 6. Back in the parlor, Walter repeats his question to Toby, asking what Mrs. Shandy can be doing upstairs. Toby suggests ringing the bell to find out. Walter’s manservant Obadiah answers the bell and explains that Mrs. Shandy is in labor, and their servant girl Susannah has gone to fetch the midwife. Walter orders Obadiah to take a horse and go fetch the Dr. Slop as well, before turning to Toby and expressing his frustration that Mrs. Shandy refuses to make use of Dr. Slop’s skills. Toby politely suggests that is because Mrs. Shandy is too modest to let a man near her genitalia, but he names the wrong body part. Then he is interrupted by the snapping of Walter’s tobacco pipe.
Walter’s selective obliviousness contrasts with his erudition—despite his depth of philosophical knowledge, he is unable to deduce that his pregnant wife has gone into labor. Toby’s own ignorance of women is made glaringly obvious when he hypothesizes that Mrs. Shandy does not want Dr. Slop to treat her because she does not want a man near her anus; not only is this the wrong body part, but Toby forgets that she has already been impregnated by Walter, her husband.
Themes
Chapter 7. Walter angrily throws his broken tobacco pipe into the fire, scolding his brother for his ignorance of women. Toby admits that he knows nothing about women and points out that his brother should know this after his affair with widow Wadman, but Walter responds that Toby should at least know the “right end” of a woman. Toby declares that he does not, and Walter resolves to explain to him but is interrupted by a knock on the door. Tristram suggests that he may be able to fit his father’s explanation of female anatomy into the third volume of his book.
Walter snapped his tobacco pipe in half in an involuntary expression of anger at Toby’s ignorant comments. Toby meekly admits to this; his reference to widow Wadman foreshadows Tristram’s narration of that romance later in the book, although chronologically it has already taken place.
Themes
Chapter 8. While Walter and Toby were talking, which Tristram estimates as having been about half an hour, Obadiah was on his way to fetch Dr. Slop. Though Dr. Slop’s home is eight miles from Shandy-Hall, Tristram points out that in his narrative, he has “brought” Toby from Flanders to England, a much longer journey, in as much narrative time, and he’s covered four years of Toby’s convalescence at an even faster pace. In a final reply to the critics who find the timing of Dr. Slop’s arrival implausible, Tristram explains that Obadiah had not had to travel far before meeting Dr. Slop, who himself was already almost at Shandy-Hall.
Tristram coyly defends the consistency of time and space in his narrative, though his digressions have already made such consistency largely irrelevant to the story. Tristram is aware of this, and deliberately exaggerates his depiction of time and space to show how all storytelling must manipulate them to create a false sense of unity for the reader.
Themes
Chapter 9. Tristram urges the reader to picture Dr. Slop, a short, stout, and undignified-looking man riding his small pony, and compare him to Obadiah on his large, fast-moving horse. Tristram then explains that Dr. Slop, turning the corner of Shandy-Hall’s garden wall, suddenly ran into Obadiah riding at top speed. Dr. Slop, a Catholic, crossed himself. In doing so, he let go of the reins and was sent flying off his horse and into the mud. Obadiah attempted to stop and help Dr. Slop but had to circle him with his horse to slow down, thereby covering Dr. Slop even more fully in mud.
Tristram’s decision to narrate this scene not by telling the reader what happened but by encouraging the reader to imagine what happened after prompting them with descriptions of Dr. Slop and Obadiah is another subtle commentary on narrativity. In a novel, showing the reader what happened and making them imagine it for themselves are one and the same goal, Tristram suggests.
Themes
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Chapter 10. Having described Dr. Slop’s arrival, Tristram returns to the parlor. Dr. Slop’s disheveled appearance shocks Walter and Toby, interrupting their debate. Tristram points out that Toby could have easily won the argument, as no woman would let someone of Dr. Slop’s current appearance near her genitalia, but that it is not Toby’s nature to score points with an insult. Dr. Slop explains that he had been on his way to check on Mrs. Shandy. Walter and Toby, however, both still have their minds set on other subjects.
Tristram’s joke at Dr. Slop’s expense further highlights the layered temporalities of his narrative, reminding the reader that the previous several chapters all took place simultaneously. Likewise, the following chapters are also taking place at the same time, as Tristram has yet to tell the reader just what his father and Toby are thinking about.
Themes
