Some scholars have claimed that the real protagonist of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne is the reader. Let's look at how the reader plays a major role in this novel.

For one thing, the narrator directly addresses the reader throughout the tale, inviting them to interpret and participate. The reader must use their imagination to help create the meaning of the text, which is actually something of a conversation between the narrator and the reader. There are strange gaps, even empty chapters and blank pages, that the reader is meant to fill in creatively by figuring out why they are there and imagining what might fill them. Indeed, the reader must be active in the story, working almost as hard as the author to complete the tale and dig out its meaning.

We can also note that the narrator provides instructions to the reader. The reader must become educated and read widely to "penetrate the moral" of the story. In fact, the story will train the reader to think. Sometimes it builds up expectations only to disappoint them. Other times it provides advice on how to read the next section. There is a real relationship between the narrator and the reader, and this makes the reader part of the story and part of its meaning.