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 1. Tristram recalls his declaration that he will write two volumes of his book each year if his health allows it. He reaffirms his commitment to the book, but while he remains in good spirits, his health is failing him. Just then, Death knocks on his door, but Tristram answers him in such a carefree manner that Death is sure he has made a mistake. Death interrupts Tristram, who is telling Eugenius a lewd story, and leaves to let him finish. Eugenius urges Tristram to run for his life, hoping to lose Death along the way, so Tristram sets out for Europe by way of Dover.
Tristram’s poor health is personified in the figure of death coming to claim the author before he can complete his work. Tristram’s irreverent response confuses and stalls Death, recalling Tristram’s claim that humor and storytelling counteract the spleen and protect against illness. Tristram’s decision to set off southward on Eugenius’s advice parodies the typical upper-class English treatment for extended illness: a restorative trip to the warmer climate of southern Europe.
Themes
Chapter 2. Once aboard a ship heading toward France, Tristram regrets his failure to see any famous sights of England along the way. Tristram becomes violently seasick but reaches France safely ahead of Death.
Tristram’s regrets reflect his belief that the English neglect their own cultural and historical landmarks because they are so focused on traveling abroad.
Themes
Chapter 3. Tristram describes the three roads from Calais to Paris, one of which is roundabout but interesting, another of which is beautiful, and the third of which is completely ordinary. Most people choose the latter, he claims.
Tristram’s sarcastic description of the various routes from Calais, a port on the coast of Normandy across the channel from England to Paris skewers the majority of travelers who show no interest in truly getting to know the countries they visit.
Themes
Chapter 4. Tristram imagines how he would describe Calais if he were a travel writer. However, he is confident that all he knows of Calais is what he was told by his barber there, and that itself is little more than he knows of Cairo. Despite seeing nothing of the town, Tristram is confident he could write a thoroughly convincing chapter about Calais and intends to prove it in the next chapter.
Tristram parodies travelogues and travel writers, questioning their authority on the places they visit and arguing that there is little difference between their writing and fiction; indeed, Tristram finds the latter more interesting and valuable.
Themes
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Chapter 5. Tristram recounts the history of Calais as described in the town archives, growing from a small village to the modern city it is today. He describes the large single church located in Calais’s central square but notes that the square is in fact rectangular—in French it is called a “place.” He then describes the sailors’ district, and then the castle tower and other large, expensive fortifications that surround the city. The latter attraction inspires Tristram to briefly recount the battles and sieges fought by the English for control of Calais.
Tristram’s faux-travelogue of Calais mimics the standard forms of traveling, starting with a brief history and then listing the city’s most famous monuments. In typical Shandean fashion, Tristram becomes caught up in minutiae, like the difference between the English and French words for “square”— unlike in English, the French words for the shape and the urban open space are different. Tristram’s recounting of Calais’s military history recalls Toby and Trim’s campaigns on the bowling green.
Themes
Chapter 6. Tristram comforts the reader, assuring them that though he could go on is this manner for at least 50 more pages, he will not force them to read his false travelogue. Now, he will continue onward to Boulogne.
Tristram takes another shot at travel writers and their boring style by mercifully ending his parody after threatening to continue in this manner.
Themes
Chapter 7. Tristram enjoys the sights of Boulogne, filled with “debtors and sinners” like himself. The residents are less appreciative of him and try to guess what sins he has committed or debts he has accumulated to be forced to flee his home. Tristram wryly points that Boulogne has a great seminary for the humanities, too.
Tristram continues to focus on the most unflattering aspects of each French town. Not content to mock Boulogne and its residents alone, Tristram sarcastically mentions the town’s seminary for the humanities, subtly grouping together its scholars with the rest of the “debtors and sinners.”
Themes
