Literature and Mind Post 7: Disgust and Tristam Shandy

Does class play a role in how prone someone is to being disgusted? What kind of evidence is there for this in  Sterne's Tristam Shandy?

"-not but the planet is well enough, provided a man could be born in it to a great title or to a great estate; or could any how contrive to be called up to publick charges, and employments of dignity or power; -but that is not my case; - and therefore every man will speak of the fair as his own market has gone in it; -for which cause I affirm it over again to be one of the vilest worlds that ever was made..." (Tristam Shandy 6).

" 'Disgust' according to William Ian Miller, the author of The Anatomy of Disgust (1997), 'paints the world in a particular way, a distinctly misanthropic and melancholic way.' Inevitably, the people who left the most fulsome comments about such things were the curmudgeons or the grouches. Some people were more liable to be upset or disgusted than others" (Cockayne 1).

In Chapter 1, "The City in a Hubbub," the fact that this book will focus on the most disgusting parts of 18th century life in England is laid-out for the reader. That being said, the concept of disgust itself must be described and established, as shown above. According to this definition, the more someone is defined as grouchy, the more likely he or she is to be disgusted about life. Being disgusted leads one to see the world in a very melancholy way. In this way, the author lays out what disgust is and how it works, but does not quite go into the "why" of it all. Only the results and the traits of disgust are shown. Why are some people "more liable to be upset or disgusted than others?"

In his novel Tristam Shandy, Sterne offers up one answer for the cause of someone's likeliness to feel disgust towards the world. Tristam himself is disgusted by the world he lives in. He calls it a "scurvy and disastrous" place (5). This alone could perhaps show more contempt or condemnation of the world, but then he goes on to call it "vile" two times. Vileness is definitely associated with disgust because both words are associated with a sort of gut-churning sensation. He then goes on to say he may not have felt this way if he had been born into a better life-situation or class, but since he was born where he was, he had to think it was vile ("every man will speak of the fair as his own market has gone it"). From the beginning of the story, the reader sees a melancholy turn in the way Tristam narrates his own life and stories he has learned, which is due to this disgust he holds for the world. He himself claims that it is his class that has led him to this feeling and belief he has about the world. This is most likely not the only reason for why some are more likely to feel disgust, but it is a definite one, according to this text.