A Jade Horse

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Can anyone think of a person who embodies a good balance in their disposition who can hear the "groans of the serious and the laughter of the lighthearted" (Sterne, 1952, p. 200)? Laurence Sterne describes a parson, a fictional character perhaps reflecting Sterne himself, in his tale Tristram Shandy; the fabricated character's name is Yorick. Yorick sounds like a good guy with a lighthearted spirit, contemplative and inclined to philosophical ideas, or the "de vanitate mundi et fuga saeculi" (Sterne, 1952, p. 200). The Google Translate from Latin to English defines it: on the vanity of the world and the flight of the age.

Laurence Sterne's allegory depicts a wise character, Eugenius, as Yorick's good and wise friend because, according to the tale, Yorick was somewhat of a person who held "not one ounce of ballast" (Sterne, 1952, p. 204). At the end of it all, such is life, a tragedy swallows up the flippant Yorick. Eugenius explains that, as a general rule of thumb, when everything is taken into account, an avenging pitiful accuser whose name is Malice will hire her servants, Cruelty, and Cowardice to assess the worth of Yorick's life.

In an imaginative line of prose, those miscreants ultimately follow secretly behind Yorick, to tear down his faith, his material possessions notwithstanding, his character injured and phlebotomized, his good works toward men discarded and consigned to oblivion. In addition, Yorick's knowledge and learning are hammered to wind-blown dust, becoming a vapor.

Eugenius gives notice to Yorick that Cruelty and Cowardice will grab at him despite his infirmities, and lest he think that by gratifying his private appetites, he will never be able to escape and will have to pay the price that no amount of "innocence of heart or integrity of conduct shall set it right" (Sterne, 1952, p. 206). Sterne uses vivid description as the axe at the root of the tree to be felled, so the man, appearances of being noble, worthy, and showy, will ultimately fall.

Parallels of caution are laden with spiritual insight from the 17th-century narrator in the open chapters of the creative writing. Sterne's knowledge of the existence of a higher power —God — bleeds through the pages into the reader's mind. Stern suggests to the reader, through the earmarking of his literary approach, that the existence of God and the acknowledgment of our weaknesses and infirmities lead us to hold a small estimation of ourselves. One way this is descriptively detailed is Sterne's knowledge of equestrian skills and horse veterinary health. 

As depicted in Yoricks life, a horse owner who was inclined to ride sickly, broken-down horses not fit for riding or working that such as Yorick could sit upon such a horse to contemplate life, build sermons for his parish becuase of the slowness of such a tired out horse whom are "clapped, or spavined, or greased" (Sterne, 1952, p. 201). Sterne makes interconnections, relationships, and associations of "broken-winded" (Sterne, 1952, p. 201) horses, and the analogy common to man at the end of his time will be like these worn-out steeds ultimately.

It is plain to see, yes, even agreed upon, contemplatively, that man has become acquainted with many temptations. He may never fully escape the battle against unbelief and sin, as Plummer says, because the war may very well be a never-ending, painful one for the disciple (Plummer, 1979, p. 368).

References:

Plummer, W. S. (1979). Romans VIII. In Commentary on Romans. Kregel Publications.

Sterne, L. (1952). The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. In R. M. Hutchins (Ed.), The great books of the Western world (Vol. 36, pp. 191–529). Encyclopedia Britannica.