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 11. Tristram is impatient to return to his own story and resolves to conclude Le Fever’s story in the next two chapters. Toby attends the funeral with Le Fever’s son, where Yorick reads a sermon. Tristram is able to deduce this fact from the Yorick’s habit of writing notes on the first page of his sermons. Some of these notes praise the sermons, and some criticize them. Most commonly, however, Yorick simply adds Italian musical terms like moderato and adagio, or shorthand notes like “so, so.” The sermon for Le Fever’s funeral seems to have been Yorick’s favorite: at the end he added “Bravo!” in very small print. Tristram is aware this may make Yorick seem vain, but he adds that the “Bravo!” was later crossed out, indicating that perhaps Yorick was ashamed of his vanity.
Tristram’s complaints strike a darkly ironic contrast to Le Fever’s somber death. Rather than relate the story of Le Fever’s funeral from the perspective of Toby or Le Fever’s son, Tristram reconstructs the story himself by poring over Yorick’s sermon. Yorick’s notes reveal his vanity, which Tristram has already mentioned. The notes also reveal his distinctly unreligious concern with style and flair in his writing. The use of Italian opera terms to describe sermons is comedically profane, bringing the low culture of the theater into the sacred sanctuary of the church.
Themes
Chapter 12. After Toby settles Le Fever’s accounts all that remains is Le Fever’s regimental coat and sword. Toby gives the former to Trim and saves the latter for Le Fever’s son. He gives Le Fever’s son a rudimentary education before sending him to a boarding school; Le Fever’s son continues to visit on holidays. Le Fever’s son begs Toby for permission to join the war in Hungary against the Turks, a quest that inspires Toby, too, before he remembers his wound. Toby gives Le Fever’s son the sword, pays for his journey to Italy, and gives him his blessing, and they both cry as they say their goodbyes.
Toby becomes an adoptive father to Le Fever’s son, albeit not officially. It is unclear why Toby chooses not to actually adopt Le Fever’s son—perhaps he is too busy with his sieges, or perhaps his unspoken discomfort with family life dissuades him. Nevertheless, Toby’s fatherly feelings are evident as he gives Le Fever’s son his tearfully blessings to go to war against the Turks. This 1716-1718 campaign was seen as a modern-day crusade and attracted volunteers from across Europe.
Themes
Chapter 13. Le Fever’s son participates in a victorious battle against the Turks at Belgrade, but then he encounters a series of misfortunes for the next four years, losing his sword, his money, and his health. He writes a letter to Toby from Marseille telling him he will be returning to Britain, which reaches Toby six weeks before Susannah accidentally circumcises Tristram. Toby anxiously awaits Le Fever’s son’s arrival and had been thinking of him throughout Walter’s speech about governors. Toby begs Walter to pick Le Fever’s son to be Tristram’s governor as he has a good heart—and a brave one, Trim says. Toby responds that the best hearts are always the bravest. Trim agrees, adding that the biggest cowards are also the worst rascals.
Le Fever’s son’s misadventures bring the story up to date with Tristram’s own birth and adolescence, placing the conversation about governors in or around 1720, meaning Tristram is two years old. Toby’s emphasis on Le Fever’s good heart and his qualifications to serve as governor reveal the difference between his worldview and his brother’s. While Walter prizes the development of the intellect, Toby firmly believes that good morals are the most important quality to cultivate.
Themes
Chapter 14. Tristram expresses wonder at what a joyous place the world would be if not for all its many ills. Walter rages at Dr. Slop for worsening Susannah’s accident and making Tristram’s circumcision the talk of the town. As the rumors spread, they become grossly exaggerated, and Walter can only add fuel to the fire by arguing against them or remaining silent. Toby suggests publicly displaying Tristram, but Walter believes even that will have no effect.
Tristram’s oxymoronic observation about the world is simultaneously true and completely meaningless. Walter is unable to appreciate the world’s joys as rumors spread about Tristram. He is convinced that because rumors take on a life of their own, there is no longer anything he can do about them. This view leads him to reject Toby’s suggestion to display the naked Tristram in public out of apathy rather than prudishness.
Themes
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Chapter 15. Walter resolves to dress Tristram in breeches.
In the eighteenth century, both boys and girls wore dresses until age four or five, hence the strangeness of Walter’s proposition.
Themes
