The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Analysis

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy: An Analysis
Laurence Sterne was an Anglo-Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He used to be
working for the church until he had a quarrel with someone from the same organization that led
him to discover his talent in writing. Eventually, as he had worked on his way to become a full
pledged writer and aiming to be able to express his thoughts and emotions through writing, he
was able to establish himself through a satire that recalled his quarrel with someone from the
church he used to work for. There are a lot of writings that he was able to publish but among the
notable ones are as follows; (1) “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman” and;
(2) “ A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy”. Moreover, he immersed himself into the
idea of writing about religious organizations and politics too. As aforementioned, one of his
notables works is the novel about Tristam Shandy, in which this paper would be focusing to.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (or, more briefly, Tristram
Shandy) is a humorous novel by Laurence Sterne. It has been published in nine volumes in the
span of seven (7) years. This is s Sterne’s hard work as the production of the novel itself took so
much of time as mentioned in the previous sentence. This is also somehow a mirror to who
Sterne was and what he knew then. In light with this, this novel about Tristam Shandy showed a
lot of detours; detours that are not only boxed into the idea of travelling but it is more of the
journey one has to take in life. Various life experiences and lessons can be seen in this novel.
Sterne was widely read, and his reading is reflected in Tristram Shandy. Many of his particular
similarities with other authors and philosophers is that it doesn’t talk about life alone but
discusses language and culture too.
Who is Tristam Shandy?

As its title suggests, the book is narrating Tristam Shandy’s life and thoughts as an
individual. It highly discusses different matters to be discussed in society. Like for an instance,
politics, social changes, even sexual themes that is very volatile for some of the readers who may
be in thr younger age bracket or some who are not open to talking about these subjects.
Tristam Shandy is known to be a simple guy, just like any kind of guy to be expected that
was shaped, formed and figured like Don Quixote. If you are familiar with Don Quixote, as he
was described, was someone who dreams of becoming a knight, a figure personified with the
idea of being a gentleman and believes in the statement “Chivalry isn’t dead”. Shandy is just like
him, a gentleman who highly embodies his values and behavior as he is expected to be one.
However, this book consists all of his thoughts, that some may not fit into your liking as it may
or may not contradict the personality he is imploring.
The tale of the protagonist's conception is told in this book, which is more of an
autobiographical nature. The character confesses in the first volume that his entire existence was
predicated on a string of such unavoidable misfortunes. He briefly states that he was born on
November 5, 1718, and makes a pledge to soon provide more information. The first three
volumes of his story, however, are all about his perspectives on how he existed. He finally gave
all the information concerning his birth in the fourth volume of the book. In this situation, we can
claim that the novel starts "ab ovo." According to Dictionary.com, Ab Ovo, according to
Dictionary.com, means from the start. In the book, rather than starting with his birth, the
narrative started with his conception. With this tactic, he runs into the issue of narrating things he
couldn't possibly know about, which calls into doubt his standing as an autobiographical
narrator. He anticipates this fear and responds by stating that he learned the tale of his conception
from Walter Shandy, who in turn heard it from his Uncle Toby. The result is to highlight the fact
that Tristram's accounts are true, but it also serves as a reminder that we shouldn't take them at
face value.
We can therefore conclude that this novel's unique chronological structure and self-
described digressive-progressive style are its central and most remarkable features. Because the
events are not presented in the appropriate order, we might conclude that its timetable is atypical.
It could seem out of the ordinary compared to other stories or novels because, often, events in
stories are chronologically ordered. This use of time in Laurence Sterne's book set it apart from
the competition. Its digressive-progressive style is the other. The narrator has difficulties using
the digressive-progressive style to describe his life's events and express his ideas. Tristram
enables thematic meaning to develop out of unanticipated juxtapositions between seemingly
unrelated occurrences by breaking the sequence of the stories he relates and inserting them with
chains of associated ideas, memories, and anecdotes.
The way I find the novel as a reader really got me confusing for a lot of times. Because of
the way Laurence Sterne wrote, his works are challenging to comprehend. In addition, the text
was muddled by the order of events and the sudden appearance of unrelated ones. As a result, it
made it difficult for me to evaluate the novel's plot. But because of the way it was written, I was
drawn in and eager to read the following installment. This method's ability to engage the reader
in an extremely active and participatory role is one of its benefits. Tristram expects his audience
to validate his opinions and accommodate his eccentricities; Sterne challenges the reader to
approach. In all honesty, I may not be a fan of installments of novel, but this one got me.
Looking at how perplexed his thoughts are somehow makes sense. It made me questions some
parts and concepts that somehow I believed on for a long time. Looking at a different and fresh
perspective made me think that perhaps there are still a lot of things I need to learn and know.
And on my end, I have to figure it one at a time since I cannot get and grasp everything in one
go.

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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy: An Analysis

Laurence Sterne was an Anglo-Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He used to be

discusses language and culture too.

Who is Tristam Shandy?

or may not contradict the personality he is imploring.

enables thematic meaning to develop out of unanticipated juxtapositions between seemingly

chains of associated ideas, memories, and anecdotes.

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