Tristram Shandy

Tristram Shandy

Examining the Narrator's...."Helpfulness"...in Laurence Sterne's Comic Novel Tristram Shandy

Tristram Shandy has earned a very mixed reputation in the several centuries since it was initially published; it is undoubtedly the work of a man with no small intelligence, but whether or not the novel is truly a work of literary greatness or merely an interesting diversion of largely empty wit has been a matter of some debate amongst scholars of many eras. Essentially, this issue comes down to how superficially the text is read and received. On the surface, the protagonist and narrator of this story appears to be little more than a piece of high-society fluff, full of self-importance and an almost charming innocence and naivete regarding the frustrating nature of his lengthy tale. A deeper reading, however, reveals the narrator's somewhat patronizing attitude towards his readers as a symptom of the societal influences that shaped this gentleman narrator in the first place.

The first several "chapters" of the text -- really little more than paragraphs that interrupt each other -- introduce the idea of Tristram Shandy's birth into this world, but this event does not actually occur until the third volume of the book. One thing continually leads to another for the narrator, and in these first chapters mentions of his family and its particular history abound, with mentions of his two parents and an uncle occurring in rather rapid succession (Volume I, Chapters 1-4). This is indicative of the entirely self-centered worldview that Tristram Shandy possesses, and his complete ignorance of the fact that the rest of the world truly does not share this focus is almost endearing, and is evidence of the manner in which this narrator and erstwhile hero was raised and molded by those around him.

This mention of family members by name in a way almost entirely unrelated to the main narrative continues in Volume Two of the novel, which opens with a treatise on knots and another family anecdote, one concerning the narrator's "great uncle Mr. Hammond Shandy, -- a little man, -- but of high fancy" (Volume II, Chapter 2). The sense of lineage and familial influence on the story that comes about as one of the main presenting features of Traistram Shandy's love of himself is meant to lampoon the histories and sense of self-importance attached to the noble -- and even more so, to the emerging merchant -- classes of English society at the time of this novel's publication. The narrator serves as an extreme example of this type of "gentleman," and the proud repetition of familial lore is simply thought by the narrator to be just as interesting for the readers as it is fascinating and important for the narrator himself and his family as a whole.

The issue develops in such a way that soon the intricate tales of Tristram Shandy's father and uncles in adventures of their younger years soon takes over completely. At one point, the narrator interrupts himself apologetically and with a seeming awareness of his frustrating storytelling style: "What a rate have I gone on at, curvetting and striking it away, two up and two down for three volumes (According to the preceding Editions.) together, without looking once behind, or even on one side of me, to see whom I trod upon!" (Volume 2, Chapter 55). Of course, he immediately takes up a new train of thought, which leads him right back to his old convoluted retelling of his father and uncle's stories; this brief moment of self-recognition only deepens the irony of the narrator's perspective.

When it comes to the actual birth of Tristram Shandy, it must basically be pieced together form the few scant hints that occur throughout the first three volumes of the text, and the event that is mentioned from the outset as the inciting event for the story -- and which is, indeed, the inciting event of anyone's life -- becomes almost incidental to the grander story that the narrator weaves. In an interesting way, this somewhat dilutes the narrator's degree of true self-centeredness, as Tristram Shandy cannot even conceive of himself (no pun intended) as an individual separate from the stories of his lineage, pointless and meaningless though they may be. The narration of Tristram's birth signifies that he is simply a single point in the vast network of stories, characters, and influences that comprise his life story, rather than a whole and complex individual in and of himself. This ultimate understanding of the narrator's character reinforces still further the irony of his perspective in its innocent self-centeredness and the "accommodations" made to the reader.