# Chapter XXXIII explained — The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

> Chapter companion for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.

## What happens

Tristram recounts the financial burden of his grandmother's jointure on the Shandy estate, and how his father's obsessive belief in the importance of long noses was inherited and cultivated through family tradition and personal conviction.

## Themes in this chapter

### Family and Heredity

The chapter explores how the Shandy family's obsession with nose length is passed down through generations, blending tradition, education, and financial interest.

### Obsession and Hobbyhorses

Walter Shandy's fixation on the importance of long noses is presented as a family hobbyhorse, nurtured by upbringing and personal conviction.

## Character check-ins

### Walter Shandy

Discussed as the father who paid the jointure and held strong opinions about long noses.

### Tristram Shandy

Narrator reflecting on family history and his father's character.

## Key lines

> What an unconscionable jointure, my dear, do we pay out of this small estate of ours, quoth my grandmother to my grandfather.

My grandmother complained to my grandfather about the excessive jointure payments from their modest estate.

_Opens the chapter with a family financial grievance._

> No man discharged pecuniary obligations with a better grace than my father.

My father paid his debts more gracefully than anyone else.

_Describes Walter Shandy's manner of paying money._

> For three generations at least this tenet in favour of long noses had gradually been taking root in our family.

The belief in the value of long noses had been growing in our family for at least three generations.

_Highlights the hereditary nature of the nose obsession._

> If education planted the mistake (in case it was one) my father watered it, and ripened it to perfection.

If upbringing started this belief, my father nurtured and perfected it.

_Shows Walter's role in intensifying the family's nose fixation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se/chapters/xxxiii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se/chapters