55 pages • 1 hour read
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
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Chapters 1-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 1-3 Summary
The book opens with the protagonist, Yorick, discussing the differences between British and French society. After the discussion, Yorick realizes that he has never been to France and decides to travel across the English Channel, which is no further than “one and twenty miles’ sailing” (7). He packs quickly, taking few clothes, as the boat leaves the next morning. If he dies, Yorick acknowledges, all of his possessions will be seized by the King of France, even the little picture of his love, Eliza, which he has promised to “carry with [him] into [his] grave” (7).
Yorick finishes his dinner and drinks to the health of the King of France, happy to demonstrate that he bears no ill will to the French monarch. As he discusses the mildness of the Bourbon people, Yorick feels his cheeks flush. His drink is strong and he feels his “arteries beat all cheerily together” (8). If Yorick was the King of France, he proclaims, it would be the ideal moment “for an orphan to have begg’d father’s portmanteau of” him (8).
Just as Yorick says this, a Franciscan monk enters the room to beg for money for his convent. At first, Yorick is determined that he will not give the monk any money. The monk seems to be “about seventy” (9) but has a younger man’s eyes and a remarkably-shaped head. The monk introduces himself and his convent with “so simple a grace” (9) that Yorick is bewitched.
Chapters 4-6 Summary
Yorick talks to the monk, suggesting that there is not enough food in the world for all the people who rely on “heaven [to be] their resource” (9). In a confrontation with the monk, he announces that there is a difference between those who “eat the bread of their own labor” and “those who eat the bread of other people’s [labor]” (9). The monk says nothing and leaves.
As soon as the door closes, Yorick feels a regretful jolt in his heart. He believes he should have treated the monk better and resolves to improve his attitude while on his travels.
Now that Yorick is “discontented with himself” (9), he feels in the mood to make a bargain and sets out to buy passage from France to Italy. He sits inside a coach and begins to take notes for his book, avoiding the monk, who is on the other side of the hotel courtyard.
Chapters 7-9 Summary
Yorick begins to write the preface to his travel book while sitting in the coach. He begins by describing the “certain boundaries and fences” (10) that constitute the borders between nations. Though there is plenty to do at home, travel can bring great happiness, even if the differences in “education, customs, and habits” (10) make it difficult.
He outlines the different kind of travelers: those with an “infirmity of body,” those with an “imbecility of mind,” and those with an “inevitable necessity” (11). In addition to those who are sick or who are required to travel, there are those who travel for educational purposes and what Yorick names “simple travelers” (11). Among the various types of simple travelers, there are the “sentimental travelers” (11), of which Yorick is one. While writing, he is interrupted by a group of Englishmen. Because he has not travelled abroad “to see Englishmen” (12), Yorick retires to his room.
En route to his room, Yorick encounters the hotel owner, Monsieur Dessein. They discuss the carriage Yorick sat inside, which is about to fall apart. Dessein will not sell this particular carriage to Yorick but agrees to take him to a shop that sells others.
Yorick compares buying a carriage to fighting a duel, though admits that he is a “poor swordsman” (14). As he talks to Dessein, he encounters the young lady he had spied talking to the monk earlier. Yorick escorts her to a carriage store and, after Dessein forgets the key, is alone with her. Left holding her hand, Yorick finds himself in an awkward moment.
Chapters 1-9 Analysis
The opening chapters of A Sentimental Journey serve to introduce the main character and the themes of the text. Through Yorick, the audience is not only introduced to the protagonist, but to the genre of writing which Sterne is about to employ. Still a burgeoning genre in the late 18th century, travel writing, at that time, was not fully defined. Because of this, Sterne is free to play with the framework and construct the text in his own best image. Without a significant expectation on behalf of the audience–who had no expectation of how travel writing should be constructed–Sterne is able to play with the formula, shifting between detailed descriptions of the anecdotes from his life and more essay-like sections describing the nature and necessity of travel and travelers.
The text itself opens with an argument. The audience is introduced mid-conversation, as Yorick and his friend discuss France. Yorick begins by making a statement, that “they order […] this matter better in France” (7), which is immediately disputed. This provides solid characterization of the protagonist: Yorick is heated, passionate, and in possession of a curious mind. He has a fascination with foreign places, even if he lacks the firsthand knowledge to truly back up his statements. This curiosity and intrigue will be the motivating factor for his trip to France and Italy. In essence, Yorick wishes to settle a discussion, but is using the argument to take in the sights and the places that fascinate him.
Additionally, the audience is shown a character whom is able to drop everything on a whim and set out on a long and arduous journey for the sake of his own pride. Yorick decides in a single moment that he needs to visit France and spends no time interrogating this idea or seriously planning. He barely even packs, putting only “half a dozen shirts and a black pair of silk breeches” (7) into his luggage.
As well as the characterization of Yorick, an important theme introduced into this section of the text is the fully-fleshed-out descriptions of travel. In describing the nature of “Simple Travelers” (11), Yorick is introducing the idea of travel as a pastime to a wider audience, many of whom might not have had the opportunity to travel abroad. They might recognize their own travels as fitting into the broad categories Sterne outlines, but few would consider themselves–like Yorick–to be sentimental travelers. This idea of sentiment paired with travel will become a key theme throughout the text and the outlining of this theme at the beginning of the book illustrates the greater level of self-regard Yorick possesses, in comparison to his hated rivals.
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By Laurence Sterne
