How we cite our quotes:
Quote #7
Here then was the time to have put a stop to this persecution against him;—and tried an experiment at least—whether calmness and serenity of mind in your sister, with a due attention, brother Toby, to her evacuations and repletions—and the rest of her non-naturals, might not, in a course of nine months gestation, have set all things to rights.—My child was bereft of these!—What a teazing life did she lead herself, and consequently her foetus too, with that nonsensical anxiety of hers about lying in in town? (4.19.4)
Mr. Shandy, after blaming his sperm, now blames Mrs. Shandy for the way Tristram turned out. (Not to blame? Mr. Shandy, of course.) Tristram's identity was set before birth because his mother's thoughts and concerns ruined his brain, and life, long before he came into the world. Society: blaming moms for everything since the eighteenth century.
Quote #8
Nature is nature (5.10.5)
This statement seems to indicate that people can't change who they are. But it's announced by a servant, Jonathan, who hardly has anything to do in the novel at all. Are we supposed to take him seriously? Or is everybody dropping truth bombs nowadays?
Quote #9
For in my grand tour through Europe, in which, after all, my father (not caring to trust me with any one) attended me himself, with my uncle Toby, and Trim, and Obadiah, and indeed most of the family (7.27.7)
Surprise! It turns out that all this time, Tristram has been traveling through Europe with an entourage, making us wonder if he does … anything by himself. It certainly seems like, for Tristram, identity is collective. There's no Tristram without the whole cast of characters. Tristram is Vince and Toby is Turtle.