- When Obadiah announces Bobby's death in the kitchen, Susannah thinks about all Mrs. Shandy's clothes that she'll have to dye black for mourning.
- Obadiah hopes it's not true, because they'll have a heck of a time convincing Mr. Shandy not to improve the field.
- Trim seizes this opportunity to sermonize a bit about the fragility of life. And Tristram interrupts to remind his readers that we're all nothing but bodies with senses before he returns to Trim's speech.
- He punctuates Trim's speech by dropping his hat on the floor to symbolize mortality—a very effective move.