THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES Two days before he died, the author of 1984 left a will saying

that he wanted no biography written. Like most novelists, he wanted his work judged for and by itself. This is ironi , sin e few novels refle t the author!s progress through life"and the stormy politi al limate of his times" as learly as #eorge $rwell!s 1984. %ost $rwell s holars see the life as a logi al &road to 1984.& 'nowing about $rwell!s life, therefore, will help you know the novel. $rwell began life with the name (ri )lair. *e was born in +ndia in 19,-, the son of what he alled a &lower"upper"middle lass& family. .or the author, this was an important distin tion. The term meant that he ame from the same so ial ba kground as the landed gentry but was set apart by the fa t that his family had very little money. *is father worked for the )ritish government in +ndia, where he ould live well on less money. Like most )ritish offi ials, he sent the family ba k to (ngland to spare them the hardships of the heat and of the monsoon season. #rowing up in *enley"on"Thames, west of London, (ri knew by the time he was four or five that he wanted to be a writer. Like his hara ter /inston 0mith in 1984, he thought of himself as an outsider and a rebel. *e told one hildhood friend1 &2ou are noti ed more if you are standing on your head than if you are right side up.& 3t eight, he was pa ked off to boarding s hool at 0t. 4yprian!s, where he was more of an outsider than ever, as a lone s holarship student among wealthy hildren. The s hoolmaster and his wife used ki ks and aresses to keep the boys in line. This was (ri !s first taste of di tatorship, of being helpless under the rule of an absolute power. $rwell transfers these feelings to /inston, who in 1984 finds himself trapped in a harsh totalitarian system. +n an essay alled &0u h, 0u h were the 5ays,& $rwell writes about being beaten for wetting his bed. The masters were 6ui k to point out, whenever he got into trouble, that he was a & harity& student. They found him diffi ult and unresponsive. Like most lonely hildren, (ri onsoled himself by making up stories in his head, and holding imaginary onversations with himself. Later $rwell wrote that during his first twenty"five years he was writing, and living, a ontinuing story in his head. *e began as a 7obin *ood"like figure, starring in imaginary adventures. Later he be ame the areful observer, trying to des ribe what was going on around him as a urately as possible. This seems very like /inston in 1984" a man who ommits rimes in his head while outwardly obeying 8arty orders. 3t (ton, a prestigious publi s hool 9e6uivalent to :.0. private or prep s hools;, )lair wrote some verse and worked on s hool maga<ines. $n e again a s holarship student, he remained an outsider. +n the years immediately following /orld /ar +, he was part of the antinomian movement at (ton, ommitted to overturning urrent standards and belief. 3lthough he was against religion, )lair was onfirmed in the 3ngli an 4hur h, or 4hur h of (ngland, along with the rest of his lassmates. Later he would be married and buried in 3ngli an eremonies. /hen his lassmates went on to $=ford or 4ambridge, (ri was fa ed with a de ision. *e ould not afford to go to a university and his grades kept him from winning any more s holarships. *e may have been si k of studying. 3nd so he de ided to join the +ndian +mperial 8oli e, a )ritish

for e assigned to keep order in )ritish dependen ies. This pleased his father, who had rejoined the family in (ngland. /ith the blessings of the family, (ri went out to )urma for a five"year hit h. Later he wrote of this e=perien e, &+n %oulmein, in Lower )urma, + was hated by large numbers of people....& Life must have been diffi ult for an aspiring writer, who was employed to keep order in a foreign ountry in the name of the )ritish empire. (ri hated the poli e and everything they stood for> he often hated the people he was supposed to help, and he hated the things he was alled upon to do in the name of his ountry. *e felt isolated, lonely and deserted. 2ou!ll see how he uses this sense of guilt and isolation in portraying /inston 0mith, who feels guilty about working for the ruling 8arty. OTHER ELEMENTS SETTING #eorge $rwell!s 1984 is set in $ eania in a ity that!s still named London, in a ountry alled 3irstrip $ne. The most important thing about the setting is that this is London in the near future. This remains true no matter what year you read the book. +n this near future, whi h is drawn from $rwell!s imagination and from onditions in London around /orld /ar ++ ro ket bombs laun hed by some remote and unseen enemy 9either (urasia or (astasia, a ording to )ig )rother; e=plode here and there. 3ll the buildings are delapidated. ?i tory %ansions, where /inston lives, is shabby and rundown. (ven in the %inistry $f Truth, where /inston works, everything is drab. The most important physi al element in almost every s ene is the teles reen, whi h both wat hes iti<ens and gives war news, musi , politi al spee hes and messages from )ig )rother. (verywhere are posters with )ig )rother!s pi ture, bearing the slogan1 BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. THEMES $rwell!s stated purpose di tates the major theme. *e wants to warn people what an happen when governments are given too mu h power. *e wants to show us how su h governments an develop, and what methods they use to keep the people they are governing in their power. 3s you read T*( 4*3734T(70 and T*( 0T$72, a se tion"by"se tion dis ussion of 1984, you!ll find this major theme dis ussed at length, along with several other themes the author has developed. 1. AS WARNING AGAINST TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENTS 2ou!ll find the 8arty in $rwell!s novel is all"powerful be ause it!s run by a group whose major purpose is to gain and keep power. Their methods are harsh and effi ient. They rush anybody

who tries to ommit an independent a t 9this in ludes keeping a diary or having an affair;. $rwell des ribes the politi al history and psy hologi al underpinnings in #oldstein!s book, e=tra ted at length in 8art Two, +@. 2. AS DESCRIPTION OF TOTALITARIAN METHODS /e see how this works as we follow the story of /inston 0mith"how the 8arty keeps wat h over everybody and what methods it uses to keep individuals in line. 3. AS DESCRIPTION OF ONE MAN'S LONELINESS /inston!s memories of a happier past, his dreams and his hopes, lead him to fight the system. *e seeks out $!)rien be ause he is lonely for somebody to talk to> this is spelled out in 8art Three. +n 8art Two he has an affair with Aulia, be ause he1 a. +s lonely and wants somebody to love. b. /ants to fight the system through all illegal affair. . +s both lonely and wants to fight the system. 93s you read 8art Two, you an form arguments to support all these themes.; 4. AS DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENS TO ANYBODY WHO FAILS TO OBEY A TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT +n 8art Three espe ially, this is spelled out as /inston is tortured and brainwashed. *e is being punished for asking 6uestions and for daring to have independent thoughts. 5. AS THE STORY OF ONE MAN BRINGING ON HIS OWN DOOM 0tarting in 8art $ne, when /inston begins the diary, reading through 8art Two, in whi h he begins his affair and tries to onta t the se ret )rotherhood that opposes the 8arty, you!ll find strong indi ations that /inston brings his apture and brainwashing on himself through defiant a ts. #iven the fa t that his story has to end badly to emphasi<e $rwell!s message of warning, you may believe /inston is being a brave rebel who would rather die than live under 8arty rule. +t!s also perfe tly respe table to believe that /inston, in his loneliness, may be ommitting a form of sui ide. 3 third way of looking at this is that /inston brings on his own apture, brainwashing, and onversion be ause in his heart he wants to be just like everybody else.

7emember that very few novels an be redu ed to answers by" the"numbers. #ood fi tional hara ters like /inston, are as well"rounded as real human beings, whi h means their moods and their motives are ompli ated and hangeable. 2our own personal responses and opinions are going to be important as you respond to #eorge $rwell!s novel. STYLE $rwell writes like many (nglish novelists, with an eye for detail and the o asional omi tou h. *is style is basi ally lean and sharp and unornamented. *e doesn!t rely on numerous olorful adje tives and he doesn!t overwrite. /hat he does do is hoose the e=a t word to onvey what he means at every step. The long politi al e= erpt from #oldstein!s book, whi h o upies the se ond half of 8art Two, is in a slightly different style. $rwell was using as his model politi al writings of his time, named in the dis ussion of 0e tion +@ in 8art Two. POINT OF VIEW The novel 1984 is narrated in the third person, through a point" of"view hara ter, /inston 0mith. This means that /inston fun tions as the amera re ording all the events. /e see, hear and learn only what /inston an see, hear and learn, as it happens. /e an see into /inston!s thoughts and share his dreams and memories, but we see the other hara ters only as /inston sees them. /e an!t know anything /inston doesn!t know, but sin e we are outside /inston!s story, we an look at it and see danger when he doesn!t"as when he goes openly to $!)rien!s pla e in 8art Two. /e see what /inston sees but we also see /inston as he looks to others" something the hara ter himself an!t do. 3t no point does the narrative point of view shift to any other hara ter!s mind. This is /inston!s story from beginning to FORM AND STRUCTURE 3lthough written as a novel of the near future, 1984 is not s ien e fi tion. +t is a politi al parable, whose effe tiveness omes1 1. from the author!s ability to involve us so deeply in /inston!s story that we are about him> B. from the author!s politi al onvi tions, his knowledge of politi al onditions, and his ability to proje t what might happen from what he already knows. The novel 1984 is divided into three parts and an appendi=. 837T $C( introdu es /inston and his life in the near future, under the thumb of the ruling 8arty. +t tra es his first a t of rebellion, and establishes his loneliness. 837T T/$ shows /inston trying to hange his life by having a love affair with Aulia, and meeting $!)rien, who he thinks is in a se ret )rotherhood dedi ated to overthrowing the 8arty. +t shows his rising hopes for a better future being dashed by his apture. 8art Two bulges be ause it

ontains a lengthy pie e of politi al writing that may wre k the novel!s stru ture, by bringing dramati a tion to a omplete halt. 837T T*7(( details /inston!s brainwashing by $!)rien, his resistan e and eventual ollapse, and his onversion to 8arty beliefs. T*( 388(C5+@ ontains a des ription of Cewspeak. +t is a kind of narrative leftover that didn!t fit into the novel. Coti e that 1984 is one of the few novels with an appendi=, the kind of thing you usually find in te=ts. 3long with the politi al e= erpt in 8art Two, the 3ppendi= advan es the author!s politi al message but may not help the book as novel. 2ou may want to write about your approval of, or obje tion to, these e=tra se tions.

Major Themes
Totalitarianism In writing 1984, Orwell's main goal was to warn of the serious danger totalitarianism poses to society. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate the terrifying degree of power and control a totalitarian regime can acquire and maintain. In such regimes, notions of personal rights and freedoms and individual thought are pulverized under the all-powerful hand of the government. Orwell was a Socialist and elieved strongly in the potential for re ellion to advance society, yet too often he witnessed such re ellions go wrong and develop into totalitarian rule. Specifically, Orwell saw such developments during his time in Spain and in !ussia, where he witnessed the rise of communism and the accompanying destruction of civil li erties, honest government, and economic strength. "uring a time when much of the #estern world was lauding communism as a step towards human progress in the development of equality in government, Orwell clearly and definitively spo$e out against the practice. In 1984, Orwell presents a dystopia, or in other words, the perfect totalitarian state. In composing this novel, Orwell gave the world a glimpse of what the em race of communism might lead to if allowed to proceed unchec$ed. %he &arty is unflawed in its universal control over society, as evidenced y its a ility to rea$ even an independent thin$er such as #inston, and has mastered every aspect of psychological control, largely through utilizing technological developments 'allowing for inventions such as the telescreen( to their advantage. In ending the novel with #inston defeated in every sense of the term, Orwell clearly suggests that there is no hope for quelling the e)pansion or growth of such a perfectly esta lished regime. *nd, more importantly, Orwell warns that at the time, this outcome was within the realm of possi ility as long as the world supported and em raced communism. Propaganda * ma+or factor in the &arty's rule over Oceania lies in its e)tremely well organized and effective propaganda machine. %he ,inistry of %ruth, which is ironically where #inston wor$s, is responsi le for disseminating all &arty pu lications and information. *ll figures and facts come from the ,inistry of %ruth, and all are dictated y the &arty. In other words, the &arty chooses e)actly what to tell the pu lic, regardless of what is accurate. %he effectiveness of this propaganda machine, which constantly corrects old material to reflect the &arty's current position on any su +ect ranging from chocolate rations to the loyalty of a specific individual, allows the &arty to completely dominate the range of information disseminated to the pu lic. %herefore, as O'-rien notes, the machine determines what constitutes reality. In addition to the massive amounts of doctored information the &arty disseminates to the pu lic, there are also asic forms of propaganda, such as the %wo ,inutes Hate, Hate #ee$, posters of -ig -rother, and required daily participation in the &hysical .er$s. %he &arty uses literally every wa$ing opportunity to instill its ideals into its citizens, and is stri$ingly successful in achieving its goal of total loyalty. In 1984 we see the vigor and loyalty such propaganda inspires in the citizens. %he citizens of Oceania are filled with hatred for the country's stated enemies, ut this hatred is easily re-directed if the enemy happens to change. %his efficiency is quite distur ing. Orwell's presentation of the power of propaganda significantly supports his warning against totalitarianism. If propaganda rules all information, it is impossi le to have any grasp on reality. %he world is as the &arty defines it. Love/Sexuality %he &arty wor$s to quell all physical sensations of love, and depersonalizes se) to the point where it is referred to as a /duty to the &arty/ 'for the purposes of procreation(. Some &arty organizations even advocate complete a stinence and procreation only through artificial

insemination. #inston suffers the &arty's removal of personal fulfillment or en+oyment in relationships in his failed marriage with 0atharine. 1ater, when he finds .ulia, #inston relishes the freedom of eing a le to love someone in a physical and emotional way. So much of #inston's seeming re ellion turns out to e guided and influenced y the &arty ',r. 2harrington, O'-rien, the -rotherhood(, ut his relationship with .ulia is not. #inston is only a le to re el against the &arty through his affair with .ulia, even though this love is destroyed in the end. Orwell's discussion of love is not only relegated to romantic love. %hrough #inston's memories of his mother and the contrast etween how she cared for him and his sister and the average &arty family is stri$ing. #inston's mother deeply loved her children and did all she could to protect them during the aftermath of the !evolution and the &arty's rise to power. In #inston's time, the &arty has removed such interfamilial loyalty, demanding that all love and loyalty e reserved for -ig -rother and the &arty. In this way, the onds etween parents and children are ro$en. 3ven worse, children commonly report their parents to the %hought &olice, placing the &arty a ove the lives of their mother and father. %he &arty's eventual goal is to destroy the family unit entirely and have all children raised in &arty facilities. %he &arty has no room for love, unless that love is directed with full force at -ig -rother and Oceania.

Independence/Identity %hrough its effective psychological manipulation tactics, the &arty destroys all sense of independence and individuality. 3veryone wears the same clothes, eats the same food, and lives in the same grungy apartments. 1ife is uniform and orderly. 4o one can stand out, and no one can e unique. %o have an independent thought orders on the criminal. 5or this reason, writing such as #inston does in his diary has een outlawed. &eople are only permitted to thin$ what the &arty tells them to thin$, which leads to what Syme refers to as /duc$spea$./ Independent thought can e dangerous, as it might lead to re ellion. %his theme comes to a head during #inston's torture, when #inston argues that he is a man, and ecause he is a man O'-rien cannot tell him what he thin$s. O'-rien counters that if #inston is a man, he is the last man on earth. ,oreover, O'-rien suggests that this independence is evidence of insanity. O'-rien's view represents the purity of a totalitarian regime, in that independent thought must e destroyed to promote the needs and goals of the &arty. #inston and .ulia's downfall occurs ecause they elieve they are special. %heir arrest and torture, however, rea$s this spirit. Once again, through this ultimate loss of individual thought, we witness Orwell's warning against em racing any version of totalitarian rule. Music Songs appear throughout the novel, most often when #inston is reflecting on the state of the world. ,usic appears to inspire #inston and allows him to see eauty and simplicity in an otherwise violent, ugly, and frightening world. He sees a powerful sense of tragedy in /6nder the spreading 2hestnut %ree,/ hope for a righter future in the eautiful thrush song, respect for the true, untoucha le past in the /St. 2lement's "ane/ rhyme, and freedom and hope in the passion with which the prole woman sings while hanging her laundry. -elow, listed in chronological order are the musical events that occur in the novel. #inston descri es sitting in the 2hestnut %ree 2afe, o serving the clearly eaten, defeated, and tragically sad .ones, *aronson and !utherford, while the song /6nder the spreading 2hestnut %ree, I sold you and you sold me/ plays over the telescreen. %he song seems to reflect the ro$en spirits of these three men, who were once Inner &arty mem ers and now have lost everything. ,r. 2harrington teaches #inston the rhyme that egins /Oranges and lemons say the ells of St. 2lement's,/ which is a vestige of the past. %hroughout the novel, #inston holds on to this rhyme and tries to discover its entirety. He succeeds, with the help of .ulia, who remem ers a few more lines than ,r. 2harrington, and O'-rien, who finishes the poem for #inston. .ulia and #inston are in the 7olden 2ountry, eginning their affair. *s they stand ne)t to each other surveying the landscape, a small thrush egins to sing ne)t to them. #inston is ta$en in y the ird's oundless freedom and wonders what ma$es him sing so eautifully. %o #inston, the ird's song represents all he longs for in life. It is the e)act opposite of the &arty. #inston hears the prole woman in the yard ehind ,r. 2harrington's house sing while she wor$s. She elts out the tune without any hesitation, throwing herself into the simple music with a passion #inston reveres. #inston tells .ulia of the poem ,r. 2harrington taught him, and she adds two verses. Her grandfather taught her the rhyme when she was young, and #inston is elated to learn the ne)t few lines of the piece. %his cooperation reveals a strong ond etween #inston and .ulia. #inston discusses the Hate Song the &arty created solely for the Hate #ee$ cele ration. %his is the only time we hear of a song created purely for negative means. #inston notes that the Hate Song is not as popular among the proles as some of the more simple tunes the ,inistry of %ruth has produced for them. O'-rien completes ,r. 2harrington's rhyme, and #inston is immensely satisfied to finally $now the complete piece. He feels that gaining the last puzzle piece from O'-rien sym olically represents their ond in re elling against the &arty and pursuing a future steeped in freedom. #inston again hears the prole woman singing passionately while doing her wash and reflects on the primitivism in song. #inston thin$s a out the millions of people around the world, +ust li$e this woman, who find such pleasure, power and freedom in music and are a le to em race it in their lives. He is arrested immediately after this rief scene, which fulfills the last line of the /St. 2lement's "ane/ song, /Here comes a chopper to chop off your head8/

#inston sits in the 2hestnut %ree 2afe, +ust as .ones, *aronson and !utherford once did. He hears the same song he heard when watching those three men, /6nder the spreading 2hestnut %ree, I sold you and you sold me./ Here, the song spea$s to the destruction of #inston's independence, and his newly discovered love for -ig -rother. Loyalty %he &arty is fueled y loyalty, and thus demands that its citizens support any and all actions it ta$es in pursuing a greater Oceania. 5or the &arty, loyalty means accepting without question or hesitation. Ironically, when #inston pledges his loyalty to the -rotherhood, he also agrees to accept the goals and requirements of the -rotherhood without question or hesitation. #inston agrees to do anything the -rotherhood requires, even if that means murdering innocents. However, #inston is also loyal to .ulia, and refuses to e separated from her forever. %his split loyalty is what separates #inston from the other &arty mem ers. &arty mem ers are loyal to the &arty, -ig -rother, and Oceania alone. &ersonal relationships are of no importance. #hile in the ,inistry of 1ove, O'-rien notes this wea$ness in #inston's mind and effectively removes it. %hrough painful physical torture, O'-rien first teaches #inston that the &arty's perspective is the accurate perspective. 4e)t, y threatening him with carnivorous rats, O'-rien rea$s #inston's loyalty to .ulia. In the last scene of the novel, #inston finally comes to love -ig -rother, and his transition from split loyalties to a greater single loyalty to the &arty is complete. Poverty vs. Wealth Oceanian society presents a clear dichotomy in living conditions. %he small Inner &arty lives lu)uriously, with servants and lush, wellfurnished apartments. &arty mem ers, on the other hand, live in run-down single-room apartments with no amenities and low-quality, tasteless food. %he proles live in a solute poverty. %he chasm etween poverty and wealth in the novel is stri$ing, and is most noticea le during #inston's forays into prole society. %he uildings the proles live in are decaying, and the city of 1ondon is filled with om ed-out ruins. #hile the Inner &arty comforts itself with lu)ury, the citizens of Oceania suffer, getting y with the are minimum in a dying city. Orwell presents this dichotomy to demonstrate how totalitarian societies promote the wealth of the ruling regime while decreasing the quality of life for all other mem ers of society. Such governments often tout their hopes for esta lishing an equal society when in reality the separation etween their living conditions and those of the citizens is vast. #inston loo$s out on the city of 1ondon and sees a dying world. ,eanwhile, O'-rien loo$s out on the city of 1ondon and sees a society trapped in a single moment in time, defined and controlled y the &arty. Technology *s previously noted, technology is an e)tremely important tool that the &arty uses to maintain control over its citizens. #ithout telescreens, the %hought &olice would not e nearly as effective, and propaganda would not e so widespread. %he constant supervision of the telescreen effectively imprisons citizens of Oceania in their daily lives9 they are always under o servation. Ironically, other areas of technological development are stri$ingly stagnant. 5or e)ample, the printing machines in the ,inistry of %ruth are still quite asic, and each superstate continues to uild the same om s that were used decades efore. Scientific progress has halted, e)cept where it serves the &arty's goals 'such as in artificial insemination or new methods for psychological manipulation(. In the world of Oceania there is no such as thing as progress for the sa$e of progress: there is only power for the sa$e of power. #hen technological developments serve this power, they are encouraged. #hen they do not, they are stopped. Language 4ewspea$ plays an e)tremely important role in Oceanian society and in the &arty's control over its population. *s Syme says, 4ewspea$ reduces and limits the num er of words in the 3nglish language, and removes words used to descri e re ellion or independence 'with the ultimate goal eing to remove citizens' a ility to thin$ anti-&arty thoughts(. Interestingly, the &arty wor$s to form a language around itself rather than naturally accepting and assuming the language of the people that ma$e up the country. In this way, language is used as yet another mechanism of mind control. !emoving a nation's original language serves to reduce the importance of a nation's past. 1anguages develop over centuries, and are deeply intertwined with culture and history. !edefining and forcing a language on a population, as was often done in the postcolonial era, denies that society its individuality. %he &arty meets this goal with great efficiency.

TIME
Time, a major theme in Tristram Shandy, takes many forms. 0terne deals with time as duration, both hronologi al and psy hologi al> the time it takes a reader to a tually read and the time that the reader feels or a epts has passed> the time events take> and time as an organi<ational devi e. Time is also a subje t both Tristram 9aka 0terneD; and the hara ters spe ulate about. Tim !"# $% &!' $% &(i$ ( %!"#) * $im . Tristram Shandy opens in 1E18 and ends in 1E1- and ranges from *enry ?+++!s time to 1EFF.

%rs. 0handy!s labor begins in ?olume + 9==, G1;, but Tristram is not born until ?olume +++ 9==iii, 1F-;> thus, though Tristram is an eight"month baby, it takes him a year to be born, sin e that is the amount of time that elapsed between the publi ation of ?olume ++ and ?olume +++. Tim !* ! *$(+,$+(!) # -i, . 0terne uses not only flashba ks, whi h you are familiar with, but even a flashforward, i.e., he refers to an event whi h has not yet happened1 &a ow broke in 9tomorrow morning; to my un le Toby!s fortifi ations& 9+++, ===viii, 18E;. The flashba ks often take the form of digressions, whi h Tristram laims are in a tuality relevant and further the story1 &+n a word, my work is digressive, and it is progressive tooHand at the same time.... + have onstru ted the main work and the adventitious parts of it with su h interse tions, and have so ompli ated and involved the digressive and progressive movements, one wheel within another, that the whole ma hine, in general, has been kept a"going...& 9+, ==ii, G8"9;. S+*. "# # $im . 0terne sometimes inserts his digressions and flashba ks into a moment of the hara ters! time, stopping their time while, theoreti ally at least, providing information whi h furthers the &main story& of the novel. 93n aside1 just what is the main storyD; +n ?olume +, :n le Toby!s reply to his brother is interrupted1 &+ think, replied my un le Toby, taking his pipe from his mouth, and striking the head of it two or three times upon the nail of his left thumb, as he began his senten e,H+ think, says he& 9==i, G1;. Two pages later, Tristram returns to Toby without any time having passed in Toby!s world, &)ut + forget my un le Toby, whom all this while we have left kno king the ashes out of his toba o pipe& 9G-;. +n ?olume ++, time is briefly reversed, and the reader is returned to my father!s 6uestion, &/hat an they be doing, brotherD& $nly then does the reader learn what Toby has to say, and what he has to say, after all this delay, is not an e=planation or a theory about the noise but the pedestrian suggestion that they ask a servant 9vi, 8,;. T% ( !# ('* $im !"# $% ,%!(!,$ (*' $im . Tristram notes that it has taken the reader about ninety minutes to read what happened sin e un le Toby rang the bell and $badiah left for 5r. 0lop, &so that no one an say, with reason, that + have not allowed Obadiah time enough, poeti ally speaking, and onsidering the emergen y too, both to go and ome& 9++, viii, 8-;. *ere he is dealing with two kinds of time1 the literal time of the reader, measurable by the lo k, and the reader!s sense of how mu h 9fi tional; time has elapsed in the lives of the hara ters> in the fi tional time, they have performed a tions re6uiring more than the mere ninety minutes of the reader!s real time. Tristram goes onto a knowledge that no real or hronologi al time may have elapsed1 &tho!, morally and truly speaking, the man, perhaps, has s ar e had time to get on his boots.& *e then addresses a literal"minded reader, whose obje tions he sets forth, in order to demolish their irrelevan e to fi tional time. T% &(i$ ('* $im . Tristram refers to the time in whi h he is writing the novel, pla ing us in the room where he is writing, telling us about the weather as he writes, des ribing his a tivities or what he is wearing as he writes. 3 parti ular thought whi h he has just written down ame to him &this very rainy day, March BF, 1EG9, and between the hours of nine and ten in the morning& 9+, ==, G-;. The year is, of ourse, the a tual time when 0terne was writing this volume. $r, the narrator tells us, &3nd

here am + sitting, this 1Bth day of 3ugust, 1EFF, in a purple jerkin and yellow pair of slippers, without either wig or ap on, a most tragi omi al ompletion of his predi tion, IThat + should neither think, nor a t like any other man!s hild, upon that very a ount!& 9+@, i, 48F;. 0u h intrusions of the narrator!s 9and 0terne!sD; time alls attention to the artifi iality of the novel and the fi tionality of his hara ters, who yet are onvin ingly alive for the reader. They also raise the 6uestion of the relationship of the a tual writer 9not the fi tional persona; to his novel. Tim !* #+(!$i/". %y father looks at his wat h, announ es that two hours and ten minutes have passed, &but to my imagination it seems almost an age& 9+++, =viii, 149;. The distin tion is between hronologi al, measurable time whose units never hange 9a minute is never more nor less than F, se onds; and time as e=perien ed by human beings 9it seems to pass slowly or to pass 6ui kly, its duration hanging a ording to ir umstan es;. $f ourse, /alter is not interested in larifying the issue for un le Toby, but merely to have his ear so that he an e=pound his theory of time 9introdu ing thereby the theme of ommuni ation or, it would be more a urate to say, the la k of ommuni ation;. To his astonishment and the reader!s amusement, Toby knows the reason, &ITis owing, entirely, 6uoth my un le Toby, to the su ession of our ideas& 9149;. 3 further twist to the omedy is Toby!s admission that he does not at all understand what he just said> his brother responds, &there is a worth in thy honest ignoran e, brother TobyHItwere almost a pity to e= hange it for a knowledge.H)ut +!ll tell thee& 91G,;. /alter is on his hobby horse and so annot stop> he goes on to e=pound the theory of duration of time, whi h in this ase is a valid ontemporary theory. Toby ries out, &2ou pu<<le me to death& 91G1;. +n this passage about time, 0terne presents simultaneously the brothers! la k of ommuni ation on the level of language but their loving ommuni ation at the level of emotional empathy and response. Tim !"# &(i$i"0 ! "/- ). The digressive"progressive te hni6ue presents problems to the narrator in telling the story of his life and propounding his opinions 9the full title is, after all, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy;. +n following the asso iations that ross his mind, providing ba kground, and giving his opinions and his father!s opinions, the narrator is a umulating material faster than he an write about it1
I am this month one whole year older than I was this time twelve-month; and having got, as you perceive, almost into the middle of the fourth volumeand no farther than to my first day's daytis demonstrative that I have three hundred and sixty-four more days to write just now, than when I first set out; so that instead of advancing, as a common writer, in my work with what I have een doing at iton the contrary, I am just thrown so many volumes ackwas every day of my life to e as usy as this!nd why not"and the transactions and opinions of it to take up as much description!nd for what reason should they e cut short" at this rate I should just live #$% times faster than I should writeIt must follow, an' please your worships, that the more I write, the more I shall have to writeand conse&uently, the more your worships read, the more your worships will have to read 'I(, xiii, ))*+, -e laments, .I shall never overtake myself,. !nother issue that this passage raises is what the writer should include in his novel and how the content of the novel may e affected y the passage of time in the novelist's life while writing the novel,

The relationship of writing and time takes a different twist with the Trista-paedia that /alter is writing to provide a guide in raising Tristram> he hopes to over ome the rippling disadvantages of Tristram!s unfortunate on eption, his flattened nose, and his ill"omened name. 3s /alter writes, he dis overs more and more that has to be said, so that the work gets longer and longer. 3fter three years, he has written only half the Trista-paedia . The onse6uen e is that Tristram himself &was all that time totally negle ted and abandoned to my mother> and what was almost as bad, by the very delay, the first part of the work, upon whi h my father had spent the most of his pains, was rendered entirely useless,Hevery day a page or two be ame of no onse6uen e& 9?, =vii, -,,;. /alter, on his hobby horse again, loses sight of his purpose> even worse, instead of ontributing to Tristram!s edu ation, he is relegating it to a woman whose understanding he holds in ontempt. +n addition, this is an e=ample of a ause with ridi ulous, une=pe ted onse6uen es.

MAJOR THEMES
%ajor themes in this novel are ommuni ation, ause"and"effe t, and time.

COMMUNICATION
3 primary barrier to ommuni ation is what 0terne alls a hobbyhorse> a hara ter is so fo used on a topi or behavior that he is dominated and nearly defined by it. /alter 0handy!s obsession is theori<ing, with little, if any awareness of reality, of the onse6uen es of his theory, or of its effe t on others. %y un le Toby!s hobbyhorse is obviousHmilitary strategy, battles, and his bowling"green battlefield. 4orporal Trim!s hobbyhorse is the pleasure of hearing himself talk, and 5r.0lop!s hobbyhorse is 4atholi ism. 3nother barrier to ommuni ation is the asso iation of ideas whi h often arries the speaker, in luding the narrator, off on his hobbyhorse. 3s 5r. 0lop is praising the for eps in making deliveries safer, Toby interrupts with the wish that 5r. 0lop &had seen what prodigious armies we had in Flanders" 9++, =viii, 11G, +++, i, 1BG, 1BF> +++, vi, 1B9;. /hen Trim reads the sermon, the referen e to the +n6uisiton makes him think of his brother, imprisoned by the +n6uisition in 8ortugal> his belief that the sermon is des ribing the torments of his brother distresses him profoundly. .ull ommuni ation does o ur, though not with language. :ndeniably, the 0handy brothers have different views and often do not understand one another in onversation> /alter loses his temper at Toby!s hobbyhorse, and Toby overs his disagreement and o asional disapproval of /alter!s theories by smoking his pipe vigorously and, as a last re ourse, whistling Lillabullero. Cevertheless, they do ommuni ate, and they ommuni ate through emotion. They share feelings> ea h loves the other and per eives that he is loved in return. Their loseness is refle ted in their ompanionableness> note how they smoke their pipes together and do<e together. They are se ure in their relationship with ea h other, as the following e= hange shows> Toby notes, with satisfa tion, &the best friends in the world may differ sometimes.HTrue,Hbrother Toby, 6uoth my father, shaking hands with him,Hwe!ll fill our pipes, brother, and then Trim shall go on& 9++,

=vii, 1,F;. They are able to ommuni ate and to maintain their relationship through their onsideration and love for ea h other. 3fter /alter insults Toby!s hobby horse, Toby
look'd up into my father's face, with a countenance spread over with so much good nature;so placid;so fraternal;so inexpressi ly tender toward him;it penetrated my father to his heart/ -e rose up hastily from his chair, and sei0ing hold of oth my uncle Toby's hands as he spoke/ 1rother Toby, said he, I eg thy pardon; forgive, I pray thee, this rash humor which my mother gave me,2y dear, dear rother, answer'd my uncle Toby, rising up y my father's help, say no more a out it;you are heartily welcome, had it een ten times as much, rother, 1ut tis ungenerous, replied my father, to hurt any man;a rother worse; ut to hurt a rother of such gentle manners,so unprovoking,and so unresenting;tis ase/1y heaven, tis cowardly,3ou are heartily welcome, rother, &uoth my uncle Tobyhad it een fifty times as much,1esides, what have I to do, my dear Toby, cried my father, either with your amusements or your pleasures, unless it was in my power 'which it is not+ to increase their measure" 1rother Shandy, answer'd my uncle Toby, looking wistfully in his face,you are much mistaken in this point; for you do increase my pleasure very much, in egetting children for the Shandy 4amily at your time of life 'II, xii, 5)+, 6his passage is filled with expressions of their consideration of each other and desire not to hurt the other7alter's contrite apologies and his helping his rother up from his chair, 6o y's reassurances and his pleasure in his rother's family, their manifest affection for each other, 7hen 7alter is stricken y the crushing of 6ristram's nose, 6o y helps him to his edroom and sits y him in &uiet sympathy,

The affe tion and the respe t Toby and Trim have for ea h other enable them to be friends, despite their hobbyhorses. /hen Trim suggests reating a miniature battlefield, Toby is immediately eager to begin, but Trim keeps talking and talking despite Toby!s repeated interruptions that he understands.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

The disjun tion between ause and effe t form part of the irrationality and randomness of life. The 0handy marriage settlement results in Tristram!s nose being flattened at birth. /alter develops a theory of hildbirth whi h results in his employing the man"midwife, 5r. 0lop. /alter!s habit of winding the lo k the first of the month has unforseeable and, in /alter!s eyes, tragi onse6uen es in Tristram!s begetting.

ORGANIZATION
%any readers find Tristram Shandy disorgani<ed, even haoti . (.%. .orster e=pressed their perspe tive when he said, &$bviously a god is hidden in Tristram Shandy, and his name is %uddle.& 4ertainly, the digressions, the apologies, the delays, the jokes, and even the narrator!s statements that he doesn!t know what he will write ne=t be ause he doesn!t know what idea may run away with himHall these things support their view, as does the narrator!s statement that he never revises. .urthermore, Tristram announ es his intention &to go on leisurely, writing and

publishing two volumes of my life every year... as long as + live& 9+, =iv, --;. *owever, to what e=tent are 0terne and Tristram to be e6uatedD +s it relevant that statements like this appear in 0terne!s orresponden e1 &+ shall write as long as + live, Itis, in fa t, my hobby horse&D +f this was indeed 0terne!s intention, how mu h planning ould go into a novel whi h might end tomorrow or in twenty yearsD There are, however, ounter arguments to this view. 5oes a novel have to be tightly organi<edD +sn!t 0terne!s rambling part of his purpose in writing Tristram Shandy and a delight in itselfD .or TristramHand presumably 0terne, &5igressions, in ontestably, are the sunshine>Hthey are the life, the soul of reading>Htake them out of this book for instan e,Hyou might as well take the book along with them& 9+, ==ii, G8;. +s his digressiveness in fa t an organi<ational te hni6ueD Tristram 9and 0terneD; laimed, &my work is digressive, and it is progressive too,Hand at the same time& 9+, ==ii, G8;. Cot all readers on ede that the novel la ks organi<ation. They have found unity in 0terne!s humor, in his hara ters, in the themes, in his philosophy, in his rhetori , and in the narrator. 0ome have seen the novel as a monologue, in whi h ase the rambling is an e=pression of the narrator!s personality. $thers see it as a dialog between the narrator and the reader, with the digressions of onversation. Aames 3iken argues, &The book was planned and written, for the most part, slowly and with are.& To support his view, he ites the hronologi al onsisten y of the time s heme, whi h is omplete and onsistent, with one or two trivial lapses. The major a tionsHTristram!s on eption, birth, and baptism and :n le Toby!s hobby horse and ourtshipH are arranged hronologi ally. %oreover the narrator refers to events, onversations, and beliefs whi h are developed and e=plained in later books> this te hni6ue re6uired at least some planning on 0terne!s part. 0terne wrote his publisher, &The 8lan, as you will per eive, is a most e=tensive oneHtaking in, not only, the /eak part of the 0 ien es, in w h the true point of 7idi ule liesHbut every Thing else, whi h + find Laugh"at"able in my wayH.& +s this a suffi ient organi<ational prin ipleD

A FEW GENERAL REMARKS

.rom the publi ation of the first two volumes, Tristram Shandy was a su ess, and a su ess not only in (ngland but also in .ran e, +taly, and #ermany. The hara ters of :n le Toby and 4orporal Trim and the /idow /adman episode were parti ularly admired, and 0terne!s humor was generally appre iated. 0terne regarded humor as &the gift of #od,& and he used it to a hieve satiri ends. *e a knowledged following 4ervantes!s lead in &des ribing silly and trifling (vents, with the 4ir umstantial 8omp of #reat $nes.& /riting a omi novel with serious goals presented diffi ulties for 0terne, &+ am going down to write a world of ConsenseH if possible like a man of SenseHbut there is the Rub.& The &rub& or the potential in ompatibility whi h 0terne anti ipated may apply to the reader as well. 5o we read

seriously, looking for meaning9s; and enjoying the humor as we go, or do we read as game players, having fun and taking serious meanings as they reveal themselvesD or is there some other way to read this novelD +s +an /att right that &through imaginative play we learn about ourselves&D $ne of 0terne!s goals in writing Tristram Shandy &was the hopes of doing the world good by ridi uling what + thought deserving of itHor of disservi e to sound learning.& 0terne!s satire of faulty s ientifi reasoning or misuse of knowledge is, + suspe t, the part of the novel that is most diffi ult for most of us to understand. +f this is the ase, + suggest that, as you read passages whi h are laden with footnotes e=plaining 0terne!s allusions, you keep in mind his purpose, even if you don!t understand all the details or follow his argument ompletely. .or e=ample, 0terne e=plained that in his hapter on noses, &the prin ipal satire throughout that part is levelled at those learned blo kheads who, in all ages, have wasted their time and mu h learning upon points as foolish&> in other words, their learned theories are as ridi ulous as %r. 0handy!s theories about noses. The greatest obje tions whi h 0terne!s ontemporaries had to the novel stemmed from his se=ual referen es and innuendos, whi h, oming from a lergyman, sho ked many. 0amuel 7i hardson wrote that 0terne!s & hara ter as a lergyman seems mu h impea hed by printing su h gross and vulgar tales, as no de ent mind an endure without e=treme disgustJ& +t is a riti ism that has ontinued. 0ir /alter 0 ott, writing half a entury later, voi ed the same basi obje tion, though more temperately,
,,, it cannot e said that the licentious humour of Tristram Shandy is of the kind which applies itself to the passions, or is calculated to corrupt society, 1ut it is a sin against taste, if allowed to e harmless as to morals, ! handful of mud is neither a fire rand nor a stone; ut to fling it a out in sport, argues coarseness of mind, and want of common manners, 4or 8cott, however, the delightful 9ncle 6o y and 6rim more than compensated for 8terne's faulty practices, including his .indecorum,.

STERNE: A MODERN NOVELIST?

0terne has been alled a modern novelist be ause of his novelisti pra ti es and themes1

-e is concerned with the nature of time and plays with its various forms, e,g,, chronological time, the reader's time, -e uses the association of ideas to portray how his characters' 'and our+ minds work and to organi0e his novel, -e challenges the conventions of the novel, e,g,, chronological development and the use of dedications and prefaces, and explores the relationship etween reality and the illusion of fiction, -e upsets the reader's comforta le expectations and unthinking assumptions,

-e makes the reader part of the process of writing a novel y sharing creative decisions as 6ristram writes the novel, -e presents the essential aloneness of human eings, with each of his characters eing the center of his own world, -e shows the chaotic nature of life y presenting effects or conse&uences efore their causes, y showing trivial causes having momentous conse&uences, and y showing momentous causes having trivial conse&uences, -e reveals the unrelia le nature of language and ver al communication, !s a result of the a ove, reality and character ecome fluid, i,e,, are constantly changing, and thus unpredicta le; and the truth ecomes difficult, if not impossi le, to determine,

In considering whether Tristram Shandy is a modern novel in any way, you might compare Tristram Shandy to the other eighteenth century novels you have read and:or novels which you consider modern,