The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Getting Into the Mood

1) Analysing Sterne's diagrams the intelligent reader can perceive a very complicate plot. There may be a lot of digressions, flash back, flash forward and narrator's comments. The use of this narrative technique makes Tristram Shandy a singular and unconventional  novels.

In the extract from volume I chapter IV of the novel you can find some of this stylistic choice.

The fist part is a narrator's comment about reader and world's response to his novel.

The second part explains Tristam's father past: his work, his travel.

The third part shows the present situation and introduces the next chapter.

2)

The title of Defoe and Swifts' novels gives clearly information about the theme of the story: adventures. The reader may be in front of plot riches of exotic theme, travel or voyage and  difficult to overcome.  The Sterne's novel does not sow this recalls in its title.

The word "opinion" makes the big difference from Defoe and Swift's works' title. The reader may find a lot of narrator's opinion and comments about the story.

3) Frequency on  which the father wound the clock.

4) The mothers thinks about an other matter when Tristam's father wind up the clock.

5)  Tristram concludes that his conception could not have happened before or after March, because the period of pregnancy in humans life generally lasts nine months.

6) Methodical - Systematic -

7) He belongs to middle class. Because his father is a merchant.

8) He may be not satisfied because his life has some dark mater.

Themes

9) From 13 to 16 lines.

10) The success of his book

He uses some comparisons with other books.

No he does not share. 

11) The mothers who could not hear the clock because it remembers in her an other mater.

12) Tristram's father is a mixture of a caricature and a flesh and blood character because he is a systematic and methodical and he is made up of needs. This type of characterization isn't valid for Tristram. In my opinion the protagonist of the novel is Tristram, because the novelist maintain an hide of mystery on his character, and last but not least this technique make Tristram an interesting character.

13)  There are two speakers in the dialogue, the first is Tristram and the second is a woman. Tristram tells her somethink of his life.