Collections Of Ideas In Toby's Mind example essay topic

Mora ru Theodora-Bianca rd year, German-English gr. I. The Psychological Origins and the Effects of the Hobbyhorse in Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy " Defying Dr. Samuel Johnson's statement that "Nothing odd will do long", Laurence Sterne's eccentric masterpiece, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman", an extended act of meditation upon story-telling based on John Locke's philosophical theory of the association of ideas, became a notable forerunner of the modern English novel, celebrating the infinite possibilities of the art of fiction. Undoubtedly, one of the most crucial philosophical literary works of the 18th century was John Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding", which had a tremendous influence on the writers of his time and also on the worldwide approach to terms such as "the nature of thought" and "human consciousness". In his "Essay", Locke stated important theories about the sequence of ideas and their interrelation, which profoundly influenced Sterne and became the basis of much of the seemingly arbitrary structure of his comic meta novel, "Tristram Shandy". Sterne adopted in particular two of Locke's concepts. First, the association of ideas, by which certain ideas, either by accident or because they have some particular significance, become so closely linked in a man's mind that he cannot think of any of them without inevitably calling up all the others as well, in the same order in which he had previously experienced them. Secondly, the train of ideas, which is a more general concept of the mind as being constantly in motion, with the result that one idea automatically suggests another in some way similar to it, which in turn leads on to something else.

Sterne uses this latter concept as an explanation for much of the seemingly eccentric behaviour of his characters and as a basis for many of the dazzling transitions of time and space which take place in the novel. John Locke considered the ideas as being the fundamental building blocks of all human thought, also stating the fact that "all our knowledge and ideas arise from experience" and that there are no innate ideas. He viewed the human mind as a "tabula rasa", a "white paper, void of all characters, without any Ideas". This empty room of the mind is gradually furnished with ideas of two sorts: first we obtain ideas of things we suppose to exist outside us in the physical world by sensation, and secondly we come to ideas of our own mental operations by reflection. Locke also defines the many ways in which the mind goes about producing these latter ideas and operating with them, making associations or differentiations. Sterne uses the concept of the association of ideas in dealing with the inner features of his main characters.

Each of them, most of all Walter Shandy and his brother Toby are locked in their private world of associations, their conversations presenting collisions of words rather than the communication of thoughts. Their eccentric hobbyhorses perfectly illustrate these very associations of ideas, making the two Shady brothers appear like comic caricatures of Locke's theory. Captain Toby's hobbyhorse of fortifications and re-enacting famous battles is not merely a passion, but gradually becomes an obsession. It can also be viewed as a means of escaping the continuous pain caused by his wound as well as the agitation of everyday life by plunging into a world of ideas, which slowly but surely begins to absorb him. The same holds for Walter Shandy, whose love for convoluted intellectual argumentation and readiness to embrace any tantalizing hypothesis lead him to propound a great number of pseudo-scientific theories. So, hobbyhorses become such a constant preoccupation, that everything in the world gets subordinated to a single, all consuming idea.

In explaining this fact, Sterne seems to see it as simply an extreme instance of what is already our innate psychological nature. Drawing on Locke's theory of the association of ideas, he dramatizes and even satirizes the way in which ideas that seem to be unrelated become connected in our mind. As an example, when Walter Shandy gives his brother an account of duration by paraphrasing Locke, Toby puts an abrupt end to the philosophical analysis of "TIME and ETERNITY" by comparing his own mind to a smoke-jack. The same when, in the abstract regions of nose-theory, Walter compares the conduct of his pipe, in another paraphrase of Locke, to the operation of the "medius terminus", the joke is against the self-reflecting capacity of the mind, for none of the collections of ideas in Toby's mind bears any resemblance to the workmanship of the understanding governed by reason. These collections simply derive from the arrangements of things in space or of experiences in time, whose causes or contrasts end up as allied ideas in the human mind. The relation between cause and effect is more complex: it is owing either to a conjunction of ideas that is subsequently arranged as a sequence, or to the arbitrary association of different ideas, which then manifests itself as a necessary connection.

Of the first sort is the resemblance between the carriers of the biblical Dinah and the Shandy Dinah, out of which Walter develops the theory of Christian names; of the latter is Tristram's belief that he was doomed by marriage articles to have his nose squashed. Association-by-contrast is at once the most "unreasonable" and fundamental mechanism of the Shandean mind. Ideas of light and darkness, continuity and interruption, as well as originality and imitation are both mingled in the action and the narrative of the book. This alliance rarely takes place between ideas on the same level, on the contrary, most opposite ideas are associated in the characters' minds. When the shocking novelty of Bobby's death enters the Shandy house, it is quickly assimilated to the familiar ideas of the inhabitants: Walter incorporates it into his reading, Toby associates it with battle and even Obadiah can of it only on a coach box. As long as the new idea is not so astounding as to break habitual associations, it simply takes its place in the mental terrain, forming one of the many tracks in the process of recollection, thought and feeling.

Another example are the circular "tracks of happiness" imprinted on Toby's bowling green, which perfectly correspond to those in his brain: one military item inevitably introduces another, and all the new ideas that enter there-of haste, bridges, love and so on- are at once militarized to fit. Consequently, the hobbyhorse is the most eloquent proof of how the residues of experience are used to colour and familiaris e accidental events. Each sensation contributes to the pattern of previous sensations which make it intelligible, enforcing the old Epicurean axiom which provides the starting point of Locke's philosophy: "Nihil in intellect quod non fit prius in sense". ("Nothing is in the intellect which was not before in the senses". ) Regarding the train of ideas, the first step Sterne took towards making his characters readable, so that their defective outsides would signify something of greater worth within, was to supply them with a past. The repetition in Trim's and Toby's histories of portions of Sir Roger's Story - Toby's passion for Widow W adman, Trim's fond memories of a lovely hand - indicates that the author was aware of the importance of attaching trains of associated ideas to involuntary coincidences, so that they might not appear as simply arbitrary or superficial.

The pressure on Tristram the narrator to supply this sort of evidential for all his characters is responsible for the unconscionable delay of his own birth. In this case, the term "hobbyhorse" embraces the relation between present trifles and past misfortunes, for Shandean singularity has its origin in a painful mischance. The histories of Yorick's bad luck with horses, of Toby's misfortunes at Namur and Trim's at Landen, or of Walter's difficulties with his aunt's reputation supply genealogies full of oddities and inconsistencies that make them intelligible, although not exactly admirable. These accounts of inadvertent and trifling behaviour form the larger account of Tristram's own particularities, which are traced back to the first of the "embryonic evils" to afflict him - the momentous interruption in which he was conceived. Once the cause of the characters' eccentric behaviour has been determined, patterns of reconciled contraries start branching from the basic union between the painful impression at the beginning of each of their biography and the customary forms of thought and activity deriving from it. For example, Yorick's absurd taste for riding a broken-down horse through his parish or Walter's extravagant Christian names - and nose-theories appear as less capricious if they are seen as truthful replays of an original experience of loss and pain.

Once this is understood, Shandean oddity and consequently the characters' hobbyhorses can be interpreted as a mode of laconic or foreshortened recollection. Hobbyhorses and their psychological causes and effects are a major theme in Sterne's "Tristram Shandy", having a strong impact on the reader because of the author's originality and courage to approach such complex and intricate issues. Sterne's originality also rests in the fact that he presents his characters by means of their emotions and impressions rather than through external incidents and because no two characters have the same associations of ideas, comic confusions abound when communication is attempted". The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" is truly "a postmodern novel avant la lettre", capturing everybody's attention by its original structure, language and style. As for myself, it has undoubtedly bewitched me from the very moment I laid hand on the book and started reading the first lines. There are so many treasures just waiting to be discovered, so many mysteries just waiting to be explored, so many puzzles just waiting to be solved, so each line becomes a challenge for the reader".

Tristram Shandy" is the story of life itself, with its ups and downs, joys and sorrows, happy laughter and bitter tears. It is an unique experience, teaching us all an important lesson: life is a true miracle and we should live it as naturally as we can, being true and sincere to ourselves as well as to those around us.

Bibliography

Lamb, Jonathan - "Sterne's Fiction and the Double Principle" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) Schneider, Ana Karina - "Tristram Shandy, a Postmodern Novel Avant la Lettre" ("American, British and Canadian Studies" - Volume Four, October 2001, Lucian Blag a University of Siblu) "The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature" edited by Marion Wynne-Davies (Bloomsbury 1989) "The Short Oxford History of English Literature" - second edition, Andrew Sanders (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Locke, John - "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (Bloomsbury, 1987) Sterne, Laurence - "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" (Penguin, 1997).