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 31. One of the many negative consequences of the Treaty of Utrecht was that it foreclosed many potential sieges for Toby, greatly disappointing him. Walter sarcastically consoles Toby for the loss of his hobby-horse, promising there will be another war soon enough. Tristram admits that while he has previously said that Toby is not eloquent, here Toby’s emotional state overrules his distaste for speeches. One such speech pleases Walter so much he writes it down and Tristram, who has read it a hundred times over, will present it to the reader in full, with Walter’s notes.
The Treaty of Utrecht was not especially satisfying for any party, though Britain won more concessions than it gave away (the War of Spanish Succession ended in a bloody and protracted stalemate). To Tristram, however, Toby’s disappointment ranks as high as the survival of the Spanish-French alliance. Walter’s teasing forces Toby to confront a genuine contradiction: how can he, a truly gentle and peaceful soul, be saddened by the end of a war? Toby’s response tackles this difficult question powerfully and honestly, even convincing Walter.
Themes
Chapter 32. Toby admits that he is aware of the negative aspects of wishing for war. He explains that he feels comfortable expressing all his passions, good and bad, to Walter, who will understand his motivations. He then asks what ill intention Walter would ascribe Toby’s desire for the war to have been fought slightly longer for, trusting his brother not to think Toby wishes for more death and destruction. Walter writes in that he only begrudges the loan he gave Toby to build more fortifications. Toby continues, asking if he is to blame for the excitement war rouses in him, and pointing out how he always went out of his way to share knowledge and military history books when they were in school together. Toby reminds Walter how much he grieved over the story of Troy, which he claims is proof that he’s aware of war’s bad side, too.
Tristram’s presentation of Toby’s speech with Walter’s commentary once again uses a story within a story to illustrate a broader point. within the text. It also lets Toby voice his own passions. Toby explains that it is the ideals of honor and justice inform his excitement about war. He also notes that he understands and grieves for the death and destruction that war causes, too. Toby’s references to his and Walter’s childhood suggests that war has always enflamed Toby’s passions, leading him to a military career from a young age. Walter is unmoved by Toby’s arguments for war, being neither a military enthusiast nor a pacifist. Rather, he is moved by his brother’s rare display of elegance and powerful speechmaking.
Themes
Walter quibbles with Toby’s grasp of ancient history in the margins. Toby, meanwhile, separates soldierly bravery and reflection on the misery of war, arguing that they are separate acts. Then, addressing Yorick, Toby quotes the sermon from Le Fever’s funeral. If a gentle creature like Le Fever was not made by nature for war, Toby argues, he was made so by necessity, as war is necessary to defend liberty and honor from the ambitious and the wicked. The pleasure Toby takes from his bowling green is therefore not frivolous but expressing a vital part of his spirit.
Walter’s notes in the margins of Toby’s speech resemble Tristram’s own commentary on the action in his book. Toby quotes Yorick’s funeral sermon for Le Fever, connecting this story within a story to that previous one, too. The ideas that Yorick’s sermon and Toby’s own speech express were not uncommon in the eighteenth century. English patriots saw their fight against France and Spain as a necessary battle to defend both political and commercial liberty.
Themes
Chapter 33. Tristram begins to remind the reader of something, but he gets caught up reminding them why he must continually go backward and forward in his story. Tristram blames Walter for the fickleness of his mind, and he resolves to start over with the chapter.
Tristram explicitly blames his father for his digressive inclinations, a family trait the reader has already seen crop up many times so far in the novel.
Themes
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Chapter 34. Tristram reminds the reader that he told them that the Treaty of Utrecht nearly ended Toby’s hobby-horse. Toby, however, did not dismount his horse and reject it—rather, he was “flung” from it by circumstances out of his control. There are no sieges from March to November, and the only time Toby spends on the bowling green is spent demolishing the fortifications of Dunkirk, as the treaty stipulates. Toby closely follows the news of this demolition and becomes frustrated waiting as legal battles are waged in France over which parts to demolish. Trim wishes to begin immediately with a breach in the walls, but Toby does not trust the treacherous French. Instead, he cautions Trim to begin from the outside, methodically demolishing the fortifications until they can safely depart for England—where, as Trim points out—they already are.
Because Toby’s sieges are so closely based upon the real progress of the war in Flanders, the end of the conflict with the Treaty of Utrecht also brings his activities to a sudden halt. The Treaty also required the demolition of the fortifications of Dunkirk, Toby and Trim’s latest, lovingly constructed model. Toby and Trim carefully consider how to demolish the fortifications while safely extracting the English soldiers who have taken the fortress and, as they debate specifics, lose sight of the fact that they are already in England themselves and have merely been imagining the battle the whole time.
Themes
Chapter 35. Toby’s discussions with Trim over the demolition approximates the pleasure of their sieges, but the same sadness returns once they are done. Toby feels listless without the excitement of imagining battles and must turn to more peaceful pursuits.
As disappointed as Toby and Trim are, the demolitions keep them occupied and engage the same skills as the sieges did. Although it seems that nothing in peacetime life can give Toby this same pleasure, he must try, foreshadowing his ill-fated amours with widow Wadman.
Themes
