How we cite our quotes:
Quote #7
Sport of small accidents, Tristram Shandy! (3.8.3)
U Mad, Tristram? Actually, it isn't fate in general that gets Tristram's goat. Specifically, it's that his fate is to have lots of annoying little things happen to him. It's harder to deal with the irritants of life than major misfortunes, as anyone who has ever had a bad day can tell you. It's part of Tristram's fate that he doesn't even get the nobility of suffering tragically.
Quote #8
From the first moment I sat down to write my life for the amusement of the world, and my opinions for its instruction, has a cloud insensibly been gathering over my father.—(3.28.1)
Tristram isn't the only one who suffers. His fate is tied up with his father's, and it's not clear whether the mis-naming is Mr. Shandy's fate or Tristram's fate. That's part of the problem with fate—it doesn't let people be individuals. What happens to one happens to the whole family, and pretty soon you're all on cable TV making examples of yourselves.
Quote #9
Is it not a shame to make two chapters of what passed in going down one pair of stairs? for we are got no farther yet than to the first landing, and there are fifteen more steps down to the bottom; and for aught I know, as my father and my uncle Toby are in a talking humour, there may be as many chapters as steps:—let that be as it will, Sir, I can no more help it than my destiny: (4.10.1)
Writing seems to be governed by the same forces that control Tristram's life. If fate controls Tristram's pen, his status as an author comes into question. Can he really be called an author, since an "author" is just another word for creator? Or is he more of a recorder? This goes back to the question of design: is Tristram's book a coherent whole or a rambling, incomplete digression?