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 13. Addressing his critics, Tristram offers a crown to anyone who can help him get Walter and Toby off the stairs and into bed, as they both need rest. Tristram then reflects on time, expressing frustration at how his life is slipping by him even as he narrates his book, and that he is aging much faster than he can write his story. He apologizes for this state of affairs, as his writing only leads to more writing, which will hurt his readers’ eyes. Nevertheless, Tristram will keep writing, even if he has to produce 12 volumes each year. This will at least be good for paper manufactures, he adds. Observing that while he was pontificating on time his father and Toby have gone off to bed, he offers his critics the crown he promised them.
Tristram undercuts his own authority as the narrator by appealing to the readers, coyly pretending he is incapable of moving his characters from one place to the next. Stepping back from the narrative to describe his own circumstances as he writes, Tristram bemoans the difference between his creative freedom and power as an author and his physical limitations as a regular person. The former part of his life gives meaning to the latter, however, so he is committed to persevering through his book.
Themes
Chapter 14. Walter asks Susannah to help him get dressed, but she responds that there is no time: the child is having a fit and possibly dying. Yorick has sent his curate to christen the child, and Susannah wishes to know what he will be named. Walter instructs Susannah to tell the curate the child’s name is Trismegistus, but he doubts her ability to remember the name in a moment of crisis. Susannah runs back to the curate and the child but can only remember the first syllable. Grasping for names starting with “Tris—” she guesses that Walter meant “Tristram,” and so that’s what the child is named. Walter, arriving shortly afterward in his nightgown, asks if the child has been named. Susannah confirms that he has, and then Walter returns to bed.
As the comical misfortunes that Walter has already suffered might suggest, his dream of naming the child “Trismegistus” was also not fated to succeed; indeed, the reader already knows that the baby will be named Tristram. Walter’s characteristically odd combination of micromanagement and detachment, sending Susannah to name the baby instead of going himself, emphasizes the ridiculous nature of his controlling demands.
Themes
Chapter 15. Tristram wishes he could write a chapter on sleep, as this part of the story presents a perfect opportunity for it. Despite this, Tristram is more called by the subject of buttonholes. Sleep, he argues, is the finest pleasure available to humankind but also an enduring mystery, and he quotes Don Quixote and Montaigne to back up his point.
Tristram draws on both literary and philosophical sources to explore the idea of sleep, choosing to quote at length rather than write a chapter on the subject himself. Despite his occasional ambitions to discuss grand, philosophical questions, Tristram feels more qualified to address stranger and more prosaic subjects like buttonholes.
Themes
Chapter 16. Walter asks for baby Trismegistus to be brought down to breakfast. He comments to Toby on the peace the two of them experience together at the table despite all the chaos in his household. Susannah enters and informs them that Mrs. Shandy is hysterical, having learned that the child was named Tristram—Susannah told the curate to name it “Tristram—gistus.” Walter is too dismayed to react strongly and takes off his hat. Toby sends Obadiah to find Trim.
Walter’s comment obviously foreshadows the immediate shattering of his peace and quiet. Each new tragedy that befalls him reveals a different aspect of his character, however, with this blow provoking a very different response than the news of the loss of Tristram’s nose.
Themes
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Chapter 17. Tristram reminds the reader of Walter’s extreme reaction to the tragedy of his nose. The tragedy of Tristram’s name, however, prompts a very different reaction. Tristram muses on how different frustrations elicit different emotional responses from people, citing as an example how he, while writing, accidentally threw a sheet of paper into the fire and threw his wig at the ceiling in anger. These responds are mysteries of nature, Tristram suggests. Walter, unable to bear this tragedy on his bed, walks out to the fishpond.
Tristram elaborates on the subject of his father’s emotional state and the way it manifests in his behavior. Walter’s reactions, Tristram argues, indicate the subtlety of the human mind and the nuances of each individual’s personality. Tristram’s example of his own bizarre reaction to frustrations while writing proves that he is very much his father’s son.
Themes
Chapter 18. Trim, entering the parlor, asks Toby if he has heard the latest bad news. They both express their mutual concern, but when it becomes clear that Toby is referring to Tristram’s name, Trim is quiet—he thought they’d been talking about the cow that destroyed Toby’s fortifications and resolves to break that news to Toby at another time. Toby continues, telling Trim he does not see much difference between the names Tristram and Trismegistus, but would give a hundred pounds to save his brother the misfortune. They ask each other what the significance of names is in battle, but quickly become distracted by the excitement of their past exploits. Toby jumps up onto his chair, miming a siege.
Trim’s concerns recall the earlier destruction of Toby’s fortifications by a cow, left behind long ago by Tristram’s narration. Trim’s decision to withhold the additional bad news demonstrates his common sense and careful attention to his master’s emotional state, an awareness of social cues that Toby mostly lacks. The ease with which Toby and Trim get distracted shows the relativity of misfortune, with Walter’s tragedy having little impact on other, less idiosyncratic people around him.
Themes
