Beginnings of Paper 2.

In her piece Doubleness and Refrain in Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Weissman suggests that “it is the nature of storytelling to etch patterns and simultaneously to violate them.” (Weissman, 90) Specifically in terms of Austen’s Persuasion, Weissman argues that the use of contrasting words represents Anne’s indecisive nature, and that this ambivalence is simply used to add a fictional, dramatic touch to the story. When applying Weissman’s statement to Yorick in A Sentimental Journey, it may seem as though Sterne’s ambivalent and often contrasting views of sentiments may represent Sterne’s own confused feelings towards the concept of emotion, or that these disparities are simply set up to keep the story entertaining to readers. However, it is more likely that these contrasting views serve to enhance certain underlying themes of the two novels, and that the use of contrast itself is a device to through which the true themes of the novel can be elucidated.

According to Weismann’s reasoning, in Persuasion, Anne’s contrasting thoughts and actions describe her own vacillating feelings, and are described solely to entertain the perception of fictional literature in the novel. However, it is more likely that this seeming paradoxical description is actually conflation of past and present that attempts to produce a sense of pleasurable excess and a desire for more. One piece of evidence for this is in the line “they exchanged again those feelings and promises… but which had been followed by so many, many years of division and estrangement.” (Austen, 160) This line serves as a comparison between past and present, and describes how the difference between these two times creates a sense of pleasure in both Anne and Captain Wentworth. Moreover, the doubling of the word “many” conveys a sense of excess emotion, again standing as a foundation for this idea of excess. Also, in the next sentence, “they returned again to the past…more exquisitely happy, perhaps, in their reunion,” there is again a contrast of past and present; however, this contrast does not represent the ambivalence of the relationship between Anne and Wentworth but instead, serves to strengthen this relationship as a result of having been renewed for a second time. The idea of pleasure is also demonstrated throughout the same passage; the first sentence of the paragraph describes old feelings and promises that Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth had shared in the past, when they were in a loving relationship filled with joy and pleasure. The words “again,” “followed,” “happy,” and “secure” (Austen, 160) also take the reader back to the delightful, pleasurable times that Anne and Captain Wentworth had previously shared. This shows yet another contrast of their old relationship with their newly beginning relationship and represents the heightened amount of pleasure that Anne feels as the relationship is being rekindled. In this way, this idea of pleasure and excess are combined to form the main theme of this passage: the conflation of past and present, and the pleasure that accompanies such an event; the contrasting words actually serve to strengthen this theme, not hinder the development of Anne’s decisiveness or add a fictional touch to the work.

When applying Weissman’s statement to Yorick in A Sentimental Journey, it may seem as though Sterne’s ambivalent and often contrasting views of sentiments may represent an attempt to keep the fictional aspect of the novel going. However, upon closer reading, it is obvious that Sterne’s work is actually a parody upon sentiments, and actually describes the ambivalence of sentiments themselves, strengthened by the use of contrast. This becomes clear at the opening of the novel, where Yorick describes his charitable feelings towards everyone around him and, within a matter of seconds, refuses a monk who begs money from him under the pretext that “no man cares to have his virtues the sport of contingencies.” (Sterne, 40) This statement blatantly expresses the idea that sentiments often contrast each other when thought of and when physically acted upon. Yorick’s divergent and often exaggerated reactions to every situation serve as ample evidence for the fact that emotions themselves are ambivalent and not concrete, and that the contrasting techniques employed in the novel further enhance this underlying theme regarding sentiments.