The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman · Chapter
Upon Whiskers explained
The narrator reflects on the imprudence of promising a chapter upon whiskers, acknowledging the world's delicacy and his own ignorance of its temperament, which he would have avoided had he seen the fragment that follows.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the imprudence of promising a chapter upon whiskers, acknowledging the world's delicacy and his own ignorance of its temperament, which he would have avoided had he seen the fragment that follows.
Themes in this chapter
The Absurdity of Systems
The narrator's self-reproach for making a promise about whiskers highlights the absurdity of imposing systematic topics on a delicate and unpredictable world.
Key passages
“I'm sorry I made it—'twas as inconsiderate a promise as ever entered a man's head—A chapter upon whiskers! alas! the world will not bear it—'tis a delicate world—but I knew not of what mettle it was made—nor had I ever seen the underwritten fragment; otherwise, as surely as noses are noses, and whiskers are whiskers still (let the world say what it will to the contrary); so surely would I have steered clear of this dangerous chapter.”
The narrator regrets promising a chapter on whiskers, calling it a thoughtless promise, since the world is too refined for such a topic; he admits he was unaware of the world's nature and would have avoided the subject if he had seen the fragment that follows.
The narrator's apology and explanation for the chapter's content.